Perl array printing: How do I print the entire contents of an array with Perl?

Perl array FAQ: How do I print the entire contents of an array in Perl?

A sample array

To answer this question we first need a sample Perl array, such as an array that contains the name of baseball teams:

@teams = ('cubs', 'reds', 'yankees', 'dodgers');

Solution: Perl array printing

Now, if you just want to print the array with the array members separated by blank spaces, you can print the array like this:

@teams = ('cubs', 'reds', 'yankees', 'dodgers');
print "@teams\n";

But that's not usually the case. More often, you want each element printed on a separate line. To achieve this, you can use this code:

@teams = ('cubs', 'reds', 'yankees', 'dodgers');

foreach (@teams) {
  print "$_\n";
}

In many examples you'll see the variable $_. This is a special Perl variable that holds the value of the element currently being processed.

Perl array printing from Programming Perl

In the terrific book, Programming Perl ^(#ad), the authors recommend another way to print the entire contents of an array. I think it's a little more difficult to understand, but that's just my opinion - and the Perl motto is "There's More Than One Way To Do It" - so here it is:

@teams = ('cubs', 'reds', 'yankees', 'dodgers');
print join("\n",@teams),"\n";

If you run one of these last two examples, you'll get this result:

cubs
reds
yankees
dodgers