prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

dear perl experts: how can I stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in
a hash? this seems like something that everyone would want as an
optional feature in an object oriented context, isn't it? sincerely,
/iaw

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

ivowel@gmail.com wrote:
> dear perl experts: how can I stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in
> a hash? this seems like something that everyone would want as an
> optional feature in an object oriented context, isn't it?

http://www.perlarchive.com/articles/perl/ug0002.shtml

-jp

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

In article <m2slg8acer.fsf@Sherm-Pendleys-Computer.local>,
Sherm Pendley <spamtrap@dot-app.org> wrote:

> ivowel@gmail.com writes:
>
> > dear perl experts: how can I stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in
> > a hash?
>
> Use exists() to check for their presence before accessing them.
>
> perldoc -f exists
>
> sherm--

Not true. Exists will cause them to be vivified see the reference
quoted before:
http://www.perlarchive.com/articles/perl/ug0002.shtml

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

boyd wrote:
> In article <m2slg8acer.fsf@Sherm-Pendleys-Computer.local>,
> Sherm Pendley <spamtrap@dot-app.org> wrote:
>
> > ivowel@gmail.com writes:
> >
> > > dear perl experts: how can I stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in
> > > a hash?
> >
> > Use exists() to check for their presence before accessing them.
> >
> > perldoc -f exists
> Not true. Exists will cause them to be vivified see the reference
> quoted before:
> http://www.perlarchive.com/articles/perl/ug0002.shtml

Did you read that article? Using exists() does NOT cause a hash level
to be autovivified. Accessing a level on the way towards using
exists() does. Therefore, you have to use exists on all levels that
you want to test:

if (exists $h{'baz'} and exists $h{'baz'}{'alpha'}) { ... }
rather than simply:
if (exists $h{'baz'}) { ... }

Paul Lalli

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

In article <ogtem29b640vqt5pn30m130c3n2sufih5r@4ax.com>,
Michele Dondi <bik.mido@tiscalinet.it> wrote:

> On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 21:38:35 GMT, boyd <tbmoore9@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> >> > dear perl experts: how can I stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in
> >> > a hash?
> >>
> >> Use exists() to check for their presence before accessing them.
> >>
> >> perldoc -f exists
> >>
> >> sherm--
> >
> >Not true. Exists will cause them to be vivified see the reference
> >quoted before:
> >http://www.perlarchive.com/articles/perl/ug0002.shtml
>
> Not true. Using "exist() to check for their presence before accessing
> them" yields a way to "stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in a
> hash". That it won't prevent autovivification at some shallower levels
> when accessing a complex data structure is a whole another story and
> only means that you have to apply the same technique repeatedly and if
> you end up doing so quite often or otherwise find it convenient, then
> write some code that will factorize that apart, or find a module that
> addresses the issue.
>
>
> Michele

Sorry. I didn't read the question and/or article carefully enough. You
are correct. In other words: exists($ref->{a}) will not cause $ref->{a}
to be created, but exists($ref->{a}->{b}) will cause $ref->{a} to be
created as an empty hash. Right?

Thanks.

Boyd

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

boyd wrote:
> Sorry. I didn't read the question and/or article carefully enough. You
> are correct. In other words: exists($ref->{a}) will not cause $ref->{a}
> to be created, but exists($ref->{a}->{b}) will cause $ref->{a} to be
> created as an empty hash. Right?

don't ask, try! you could whip up a script to test that in about 4
lines

-jp

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

In article <1164412019.779359.99050@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.c om>,
"DJ Stunks" <DJStunks@gmail.com> wrote:

> boyd wrote:
> > Sorry. I didn't read the question and/or article carefully enough. You
> > are correct. In other words: exists($ref->{a}) will not cause $ref->{a}
> > to be created, but exists($ref->{a}->{b}) will cause $ref->{a} to be
> > created as an empty hash. Right?
>
> don't ask, try! you could whip up a script to test that in about 4
> lines
>
> -jp

That's what I did. Except I did it within the debugger: perl -de1

I posted my question sort of rhetorically...

Thanks.
Boyd

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

Quoth ivowel@gmail.com:
>
> dear perl experts: how can I stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in
> a hash? this seems like something that everyone would want as an
> optional feature in an object oriented context, isn't it? sincerely,

As of 5.8.0 you can use Hash::Util::lock_keys to prevent new hash keys
from being added in any way (including autoviv). This feature was added
to support OOP, IIRC (it is a replacement for the deprecated pseudohash
semantics).

Ben

--
Raise your hand if you're invulnerable.
[benmorrow@tiscali.co.uk]

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

>>>>> "b" == boyd <tbmoore9@verizon.net> writes:

b> In article <1164412019.779359.99050@m7g2000cwm.googlegroups.c om>,
b> "DJ Stunks" <DJStunks@gmail.com> wrote:

>> boyd wrote:
>> > Sorry. I didn't read the question and/or article carefully enough. You
>> > are correct. In other words: exists($ref->{a}) will not cause $ref->{a}
>> > to be created, but exists($ref->{a}->{b}) will cause $ref->{a} to be
>> > created as an empty hash. Right?
>>
>> don't ask, try! you could whip up a script to test that in about 4
>> lines
>>
>> -jp

b> That's what I did. Except I did it within the debugger: perl -de1

b> I posted my question sort of rhetorically...

and you could read the article mentioned. it covers autoviv, exists and
all related stuff. i should know. :)

uri

--
Uri Guttman ------ uri@stemsystems.com -------- http://www.stemsystems.com
--Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and Coding-
Search or Offer Perl Jobs ---------------------------- http://jobs.perl.org

Re: prevent further hash auto-vivification
 

>>>>> "BM" == Ben Morrow <benmorrow@tiscali.co.uk> writes:

BM> Quoth ivowel@gmail.com:
>>
>> dear perl experts: how can I stop perl from auto-vivifying new keys in
>> a hash? this seems like something that everyone would want as an
>> optional feature in an object oriented context, isn't it? sincerely,

BM> As of 5.8.0 you can use Hash::Util::lock_keys to prevent new hash keys
BM> from being added in any way (including autoviv). This feature was added
BM> to support OOP, IIRC (it is a replacement for the deprecated pseudohash
BM> semantics).

i wouldn't say hash locking had anything to do with psuedo hashes.
psuedos were intended to be a fast way to do object and look up their
attributes. it was an unholy mess and was rightly ripped out of perl (i
think it was finally removed in 5.8 after being deprecated for years).

maybe the locked hashes are useful to various OO implementation styles
(inside out object don't need that AFAIK) but they aren't similar to
psuedo hashes in any way i can see.

uri

--
Uri Guttman ------ uri@stemsystems.com -------- http://www.stemsystems.com
--Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and Coding-
Search or Offer Perl Jobs ---------------------------- http://jobs.perl.org