Perl Modules Error

[dellwood]

Hi,

When I run file.pl which includes the configRead.pm perl module, I recieve the following error:



perl file.pl ~/programs/perl/my_examples
configRead.pm did not return a true value at file.pl line 3.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at file.pl line 3.


file.pl: http://www.pastie.org/545779

configRead.pm: http://www.pastie.org/545781

I can't figure out why...I have the exact same situation with another pair of files ( that works fine ) and I've crossed check the pairs a good many times.

All help is greatly appreicated :).

-Josh

[unutbu]

Put a


1;
at the end of configRead.pm.

[dellwood]

Thanks, it worked :D.

Could you point me to some documentation explaining this, as I'd like to know when I do/don't have to put this (like I said, the other two files with the same relationship didn't require it).

Thanks :).

-Josh

[unutbu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl_module:


# A Perl module must end with a true value or else it is considered not to
# have loaded. By convention this value is usually 1 though it can be
# any true value. A module can end with false to indicate failure but
# this is rarely used and it would instead die() (exit with an error).
1;

When I was actively coding in Perl, I learned this and did not question it.
Larry Wall said my modules should end with a "1;" so that is what I did.

Now that I've switched to Python, I believe a good programming language should
not force this kind of arbitrary, un-useful rule upon its users. ;)

[dellwood]

Thanks for the reply. I'm using an eight year old book currently, and I'm not sure when the feature was implemented, but this book sure doesn't mention it.



Now that I've switched to Python, I believe a good programming language should
not force this kind of arbitrary, un-useful rule upon its users.

I could switch to, I'd just loose my job :D (j/k...I'm learning python in my free time).

Thanks again :)

-Josh