From: Hal Fulton <hal9000@...>
Date: 2006-06-01T09:49:24+09:00
Subject: Re: A newbie question about scanf

Ken Kam wrote:
> Hal Fulton wrote:
> 
>>These should all work:
>>
>>   a, = scanf('%d')
>>   a,* = scanf('%d')    # Prettier
>>   a = *scanf('%d')     # Clearer?
>>
> 
> Hmmm... the * thing...
> is it possible if you explain that in a bit more detail? Is that like 
> pointers in C?

No... it's what David Alan Black calls the "unary unarray" operator,
also called the "splat" operator.

* on an array turns it into a simple list (sort of like removing
the brackets).

Actually... I think I misled you on the third example.
I don't think it works. You'd still need more than one
item on the left side if you used it.

On the other side, it's different.

    x,* = array   # means the same as
    x,  = array   # but with the * it looks better

x gets assigned the first value.

There's also:

   a = scanf('%d')[0]    # or
   a = scanf('%d').first



Hal