Use operator stored in a variable?

[CJason]

Say:

$add = '+';
$a = 1;
$b = 2;

Is it possible to add a & b together, using the variable $add as the operator? Like:

$total = $a $add $b;

Obviously, what I have written here doesn't work, but is there a way to make this work? If so, any clues would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[KevinADC]

One way:

$add = '+';
$a = 1;
$b = 2;
$total = eval "$a $add $b";
print $total;

Make sure $add is validated if the input comes from outside the script, otherwise it is possible to insert other code into the program and eval will happily execute it.


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- Kevin, perl coder unexceptional!

 

[KevinADC]

You may want to look into "Safe" as well:

http://perldoc.perl.org/Safe.html

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- Kevin, perl coder unexceptional!