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285

Avoid Special Cases

        Subject: matching
        Message-ID: <3bd6d2ec.77079640@news>

        if ($#files > -1) {
          foreach (@files) {
            unlink("$dir/$_") || &err("can't delete $_ : $!");
          }
        }

• The if is checking to see that @files is nonempty

• (if (@files) would be clearer here; $#array is a red flag.)

  • What if @files is empty? Then the loop is skipped

  • But a loop over an empty array is self-skipping:

        foreach (@files) {
          unlink("$dir/$_") || &err("can't delete $_ : $!");
        }

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Copyright © 2002 M. J. Dominus