> if ($printLine[$state..3] =~ /^----/)
1. The syntax $foo[....] signifies a single element of array @foo.
The ..... bit is in scalar context and should evaluate to a *single*
*numeric* value. Hence the complaint:
Argument "" isn't numeric in array element
2. When you use a variable that isn't defined, and you have
warnings switched on, perl will complain. For some lines of
your TEST file, $state ends up not defined, hence:
Use of uninitialized value in pattern match (m//)
The line number for the specific lines is given in the error message.
To make matters worse:
3. When you use the X..Y syntax in a scalar context, the ..
operator is the bistable (flipflop) operator, not the range
operator.
4. The =~ operator expects a single value on the left side.
You clearly ain't doing what you want to do.
I don't know what happens earlier in your script (and given
the errors above, I ain't too confident you've gotten it right),
but to match against a range of array elements, how you
might want to try:
if (grep { /^---/ } @printLine[$state..3]) {;
to match any, or
if ($state..3 == grep { /^---/ } @printLine[$state..3]) {;
to match all. You should add an assert that $state is (or
evaluates to) an integer between 0 and 3. And both of
these are somewhat obfuscated coding. Perhaps:
# to match any
my $match = 0;
for ($state..3) {
$match ||= $printLine[$_] =~ /^---/
}
if ($match) {
or
# to match all
my $match = 1;
for ($state..3) {
$match &&= $printLine[$_] =~ /^---/
}
if ($match) {
would be better, though note that the latter indicates
you have matched all if $state isn't in the range 0-3.
hth.
