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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/gawktexi.in')
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1 files changed, 11 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/doc/gawktexi.in b/doc/gawktexi.in index 850d4e18..38fa95e5 100644 --- a/doc/gawktexi.in +++ b/doc/gawktexi.in @@ -19530,17 +19530,20 @@ an array or not. The second is inside the body of a user-defined function array or not. @quotation NOTE -Using @code{isarray()} at the global level to test -variables makes no sense. Because you are the one writing the program, you -are supposed to know if your variables are arrays or not. And in fact, -due to the way @command{gawk} works, if you pass the name of a variable -that has not been previously used to @code{isarray()}, @command{gawk} -ends up turning it into a scalar. +While you can use @code{isarray()} at the global level to test variables, +doing so makes no sense. Because @emph{you} are the one writing the +program, @emph{you} are supposed to know if your variables are arrays +or not. @end quotation The @code{typeof()} function is general; it allows you to determine -if a variable or function parameter is a scalar, an array, or a strongly -typed regexp. +if a variable or function parameter is a scalar (number, string, +or strongly typed regexp) or an array. + +Normally, passing a variable that has never been used to a built-in +function causes it to become a scalar variable (unassigned). +However, @code{isarray()} and @code{typeof()} are different; they do +not change their arguments from untyped to unassigned. @node I18N Functions @subsection String-Translation Functions |