Why can't I name a sigilless variable v+digit?

Question

Running the following simple code, checking the behaviour of sigilless variables, produces a strange error:

use v6.d;  # Rakudo Star 2020.05.01 (Windows)

sub test ($p) {
    say $p;
}

my \v1 = 1;

say v1;   # v1 (ERROR)
test(v1); # v1 (ERROR)

my \v = 1;

say v;   # 1 (Correct)
test(v); # 1 (Correct)

my \vv1 = 1;

say vv1;   # 1 (Correct)
test(vv1); # 1 (Correct)

my \s1 = 1;

say s1;   # 1 (Correct)
test(s1); # 1 (Correct)

Why is that?

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 20 '20 at 08:55

16

Literals that start with v and are followed by a number (and dots and then other numbers) are considered versions. That means that you can't use anything starting with v and followed by numbers as sigilless identifier.

say (v1.2.3).parts; # OUTPUT: «(1 2 3)␤»

That's probably underdocumented, though...

answered Sep 20 '20 at 08:55

jjmerelo

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I would argue that that is a bug. A local definition should *always* override a global one. Compare `say i` with `for ^5 -> \i { say i }` – Elizabeth Mattijsen Sep 20 '20 at 09:54
@ElizabethMattijsen Has that been reported? – jjmerelo Sep 20 '20 at 19:02
I have no idea. :-) Sorry. – Elizabeth Mattijsen Sep 20 '20 at 19:19

Why can't I name a sigilless variable v+digit?

1 Answers1