I'm familiar with another programming language, C, which has a switch (or case ) statement. Where is Perl's switch statement?
A1:
Perl doesn't have one! Perl provides such a variety of tests that figuring out the best syntax for a switch statement is nightmarish. The simplest way to emulate a switch statement is as follows :
The online syntax manual page ”which you can view by typing perldoc perlsyn at a command prompt ”contains many clever examples of how to emulate a switch statement in Perl, some with very switch -like syntax.
Q2:
How many for ( while, if ) blocks can I nest inside each other?
A2:
As many as you like, within memory restrictions of your system. Usually, however, if you have deeply nested loops , it a sign that you should approach the problem differently.
Q3:
Help! Perl is giving me the message Unmatched right bracket (or Missing right bracket ). The line number reported is the end of the file!
A3:
Somewhere in your program, you've used an open brace ( { ) without a close brace ( } ), or vice versa. Perl can sometimes guess where the typo is in your program, but sometimes not. Because control structures can nest arbitrarily deeply, Perl doesn't know you've made a mistake until it unexpectedly reaches the End of File without finding the balancing brace. A good program editor (such as vi, Emacs, or UltraEdit) has features to help you find mismatched braces. Use one.
