NAME

grep - locate elements in a list test true against a given criterion

SYNOPSIS

grep BLOCK LIST

grep EXPR,LIST

DESCRIPTION

This is similar in spirit to, but not the same as, grep(1) and its relatives. In particular, it is not limited to using regular expressions.

Evaluates the BLOCK or EXPR for each element of LIST (locally setting $_ to each element) and returns the list value consisting of those elements for which the expression evaluated to TRUE. In a scalar context, returns the number of times the expression was TRUE.

    @foo = grep(!/^#/, @bar);    # weed out comments

or equivalently,

    @foo = grep {!/^#/} @bar;    # weed out comments

Note that, because $_ is a reference into the list value, it can be used to modify the elements of the array. While this is useful and supported, it can cause bizarre results if the LIST is not a named array. Similarly, grep returns aliases into the original list, much like the way that a for loop's index variable aliases the list elements. That is, modifying an element of a list returned by grep (for example, in a foreach, map() or another grep()) actually modifies the element in the original list.

See also map for an array composed of the results of the BLOCK or EXPR.

DISCLAIMER

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--Tom Christiansen, Perl Documentation Compiler and Editor

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