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integer(3pm)                          Perl Programmers Reference Guide                          integer(3pm)



NAME
       integer - Perl pragma to use integer arithmetic instead of floating point

SYNOPSIS
           use integer;
           $x = 10/3;
           # $x is now 3, not 3.33333333333333333

DESCRIPTION
       This tells the compiler to use integer operations from here to the end of the enclosing BLOCK.  On
       many machines, this doesn't matter a great deal for most computations, but on those without floating
       point hardware, it can make a big difference in performance.

       Note that this only affects how most of the arithmetic and relational operators handle their operands
       and results, and not how all numbers everywhere are treated.  Specifically, "use integer;" has the
       effect that before computing the results of the arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /, %, +=, -=, *=, /=,
       %=, and unary minus), the comparison operators (<, <=, >, >=, ==, !=, <=>), and the bitwise operators
       (|, &, ^, <<, >>, |=, &=, ^=, <<=, >>=), the operands have their fractional portions truncated (or
       floored), and the result will have its fractional portion truncated as well.  In addition, the range
       of operands and results is restricted to that of familiar two's complement integers, i.e., -(2**31)
       .. (2**31-1) on 32-bit architectures, and -(2**63) .. (2**63-1) on 64-bit architectures.  For exam-ple, example,
       ple, this code

           use integer;
           $x = 5.8;
           $y = 2.5;
           $z = 2.7;
           $a = 2**31 - 1;  # Largest positive integer on 32-bit machines
           $, = ", ";
           print $x, -$x, $x + $y, $x - $y, $x / $y, $x * $y, $y == $z, $a, $a + 1;

       will print:  5.8, -5, 7, 3, 2, 10, 1, 2147483647, -2147483648

       Note that $x is still printed as having its true non-integer value of 5.8 since it wasn't operated
       on.  And note too the wrap-around from the largest positive integer to the largest negative one.
       Also, arguments passed to functions and the values returned by them are not affected by "use inte-ger;". integer;".
       ger;".  E.g.,

           srand(1.5);
           $, = ", ";
           print sin(.5), cos(.5), atan2(1,2), sqrt(2), rand(10);

       will give the same result with or without "use integer;"  The power operator "**" is also not
       affected, so that 2 ** .5 is always the square root of 2.  Now, it so happens that the pre- and post-increment postincrement
       increment and decrement operators, ++ and --, are not affected by "use integer;" either.  Some may
       rightly consider this to be a bug -- but at least it's a long-standing one.

       Finally, "use integer;" also has an additional affect on the bitwise operators.  Normally, the oper-ands operands
       ands and results are treated as unsigned integers, but with "use integer;" the operands and results
       are signed.  This means, among other things, that ~0 is -1, and -2 & -5 is -6.

       Internally, native integer arithmetic (as provided by your C compiler) is used.  This means that
       Perl's own semantics for arithmetic operations may not be preserved.  One common source of trouble is
       the modulus of negative numbers, which Perl does one way, but your hardware may do another.

           % perl -le 'print (4 % -3)'
           -2
           % perl -Minteger -le 'print (4 % -3)'
           1

       See "Pragmatic Modules" in perlmodlib, "Integer Arithmetic" in perlop



perl v5.8.8                                      2001-09-21                                     integer(3pm)