| PerlFAQ Server 2005-09-27, 7:56 am |
| This message is one of several periodic postings to comp.lang.perl.misc
intended to make it easier for perl programmers to find answers to
common questions. The core of this message represents an excerpt
from the documentation provided with Perl.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
4.61: What's the difference between "delete" and "undef" with hashes?
Hashes contain pairs of scalars: the first is the key, the second is the
value. The key will be coerced to a string, although the value can be
any kind of scalar: string, number, or reference. If a key $key is
present in %hash, "exists($hash{$key})" will return true. The value for
a given key can be "undef", in which case $hash{$key} will be "undef"
while "exists $hash{$key}" will return true. This corresponds to ($key,
"undef") being in the hash.
Pictures help... here's the %hash table:
keys values
+------+------+
| a | 3 |
| x | 7 |
| d | 0 |
| e | 2 |
+------+------+
And these conditions hold
$hash{'a'} is true
$hash{'d'} is false
defined $hash{'d'} is true
defined $hash{'a'} is true
exists $hash{'a'} is true (Perl5 only)
grep ($_ eq 'a', keys %hash) is true
If you now say
undef $hash{'a'}
your table now reads:
keys values
+------+------+
| a | undef|
| x | 7 |
| d | 0 |
| e | 2 |
+------+------+
and these conditions now hold; changes in caps:
$hash{'a'} is FALSE
$hash{'d'} is false
defined $hash{'d'} is true
defined $hash{'a'} is FALSE
exists $hash{'a'} is true (Perl5 only)
grep ($_ eq 'a', keys %hash) is true
Notice the last two: you have an undef value, but a defined key!
Now, consider this:
delete $hash{'a'}
your table now reads:
keys values
+------+------+
| x | 7 |
| d | 0 |
| e | 2 |
+------+------+
and these conditions now hold; changes in caps:
$hash{'a'} is false
$hash{'d'} is false
defined $hash{'d'} is true
defined $hash{'a'} is false
exists $hash{'a'} is FALSE (Perl5 only)
grep ($_ eq 'a', keys %hash) is FALSE
See, the whole entry is gone!
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