From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Using perldoc -q tail
> leading to
> perldoc -f seek
> perldoc -f tell
>
> I'm not getting how to use those functions. Partly because what
> passes for examples in those docs doesn't use normal language, instead
> they use terms like WHENCE, something that's almost never used in
> normal language. When WHERE would get the point across at a glance
> instead of having to dig into the details,
Sorry, WHERE would not cut it. FROM_WHERE would.
And without the "details" included in the "The values for WHENCE are
0 to set the new position in bytes to POSITION, 1 to set it to the
current position plus POSITION, and 2 to set it to EOF plus POSITION
(typically negative)." sentence the docs would be useless no matter
what you call that parameter.
> At first I took it to mean something more involved than giving a
> possition.
> No biggee I guess but then I see:
>
> for (;;) {
> for ($curpos = tell(FILE); $_ = <FILE>;
> $curpos = tell(FILE)) {
> # search for some stuff and put it into files
> }
> sleep($for_a_while);
> seek(FILE, $curpos, 0);
> }
>
> Even here what the heck does `;;' mean. This stuff is supposed to be
> readable by someone who doesn't know these things. Even down to
> `curpos'. I didn't get what it meant for a few seconds. Why not
> spell it out... $CurrentPostion. After all clarity is what we're
> after here.
That example was NOT supposed to show the normal use of seek(). It
was an example of what you may have to do in a fairly specific
situation spelled out a few lines above. Skipping lines while reading
documentation is not always the best thing to do.
Jenda
===== [EMAIL PROTECTED] === http://Jenda.Krynicky.cz =====
When it comes to wine, women and song, wizards are allowed
to get drunk and croon as much as they like.
-- Terry Pratchett in Sourcery
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