Page History

...

Some functions do not define what they return in list or scalar context. For instance, according to the {[perlfunc}} manpage, the sort() function "sorts the LIST and returns the sorted list value. In scalar context, the behaviour of "sort()" is undefined.".

Noncompliant Code Example (sort())

This noncompliant code example inadvertantly assigns a scalar to the result of the sort() function.

...

The contents of $result are undefined, because the sort() function's return value is not defined in a scalar context.

Compliant Solution (sort())

This compliant solution guarantees that the ret() function is only called in list context.

...

In this case, the @result array will contain the list {{{ "bar", "baz", "foo" }}}.

Risk Assessment

Using an unspecified value can lead to erratic program behavior.

Automated Detection

Bibliography

\[[Conway 2005|AA. Bibliography#Conway 2005]\]
\[[Manpages|AA. Bibliography#Manpages]\] [perlfunc|http://perldoc.perl.org/perlfunc.html]

...