How does Perl decide to treat a scalar as a string or a number?
Consider the following code and its output:
Code
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
my $HOURS_PER_DAY = 24.0 * 1.0;
my $BSA = 1.7 * 1.0;
my $MCG_PER_MG = 1000.0 * 1.0;
my $HOURS_DURATION = 20.0 * $HOURS_PER_DAY;
my $dummy = $HOURS_PER_DAY * $BSA * $MCG_PER_MG * $HOURS_DURATION;
print Dumper($HOURS_PER_DAY);
print Dumper( $BSA);
print Dumper( $MCG_PER_MG);
print Dumper( $HOURS_DURATION );
Output
$VAR1 = 24;
$VAR1 = '1.7';
$VAR1 = 1000;
$VAR1 = 480;
As you can see, the second variable is treated as strings, while the first and fourth are treated as numbers. Does anyone know what the basic logic is?
Modifying the arithmetic calculations that were added does not completely solve the problem (see $ BSA variable).
$ perl -v
This is perl, v5.10.0 built for cygwin-thread-multi-64int
(with 6 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)
Copyright 1987-2007, Larry Wall
source to share
The Data :: Dumper job is all about serializing data, and you can't tell a lot about what perl does internally with data based on its output. The Devel :: Peek module can clear the base flags and values stored in variables. Devel :: Peek POD explains the meaning of the flags.
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Devel::Peek;
my $HOURS_PER_DAY = 24.0 * 1.0;
my $BSA = 1.7 * 1.0;
my $MCG_PER_MG = 1000.0 * 1.0;
my $HOURS_DURATION = 20.0 * $HOURS_PER_DAY;
my $dummy = $HOURS_PER_DAY * $BSA * $MCG_PER_MG * $HOURS_DURATION;
Dump($HOURS_PER_DAY);
Dump($BSA);
Dump($MCG_PER_MG);
Dump($HOURS_DURATION);
__END__
SV = PVNV(0xd71ff0) at 0xd87f90
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,NOK,pIOK,pNOK)
IV = 24
NV = 24
PV = 0
SV = PVNV(0xd71fc8) at 0xd87f60
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,NOK,pIOK,pNOK)
IV = 1
NV = 1.7
PV = 0
SV = PVNV(0xd72040) at 0xd87f40
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,NOK,pIOK,pNOK)
IV = 1000
NV = 1000
PV = 0
SV = IV(0xd8b408) at 0xd87f30
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK)
IV = 480
# compare the above output to output without the assignment to $dummy:
SV = IV(0x7b0eb8) at 0x7adf90
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK)
IV = 24
SV = NV(0x7c7c90) at 0x7adf60
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,NOK,pNOK)
NV = 1.7
SV = IV(0x7b13d8) at 0x7adf40
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK)
IV = 1000
SV = IV(0x7b1408) at 0x7adf30
REFCNT = 1
FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,IOK,pIOK)
IV = 480
source to share
Your whole concept of Perl treating variables as strings or numbers is wrong. Perl will handle your variables correctly when you need it, for example, arithmetic operators always treat their argument as numbers (assuming you're not overusing operator overloading or some such). In the meantime, there is no need to know about it. ”
You don't have to worry about this: Perl knows what it is doing.
source to share
Data :: Dumper uses a simple string representation of a variable to determine if it is a number. From source code:
...
elsif ($val =~ /^(?:0|-?[1-9]\d{0,8})\z/) { # safe decimal number
$out .= $val;
}
else { # string
...
This does not match the decimal point numbers that explain the behavior you observed.
source to share