Variables and Arrays : Variable « Language Basics « Perl






  1. Perl
  2. Language Basics
  3. Variable

Variables and Arrays

    

Perl's variables fall into three major types: scalars, arrays, and associative arrays or hashes. 
Perl differentiates variable names based on the first character $, @, or % respectively.

Syntax      Meaning
NAME        File handle or directory handle
$NAME       Scalar variable.
@NAME       Array indexed by position number.
%NAME       Associative array, also called hash, indexed by string.
NAME()      Invoke the subroutine NAME.
&NAME       Invoke the subroutine NAME.
*NAME       Everything named NAME.


Scalar variables hold a single value, either a text string or a number. 
You can set the same variable to hold either text or numeric data, and you can switch by setting a string variable to hold a number, and vice versa.








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