perl - how to create an array with n empty strings or zeros?

Question

When I manipulate CSV files in Perl I often have a need to initialize an array with some number of same elements:

my $arr = [];
for my $i (0..$n-1) {
    push @$arr, "";
}

Is there a way to do it in a more compact form?

Perfectly I would like to have an expression for this purpose, so that I can add missing columns easily:

f([@$some_tab, n_elems("", $column_number - scalar(@$some_tab))]);

I know how to write a function, but I never do it in 10-line scripts.

Tim · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-16 10:30:55Z

54

Use the multiplier.

my @arr = ("") x $n;

Update: note that this duplicates the element, which might not be desirable if you are filling the array with references. In such a case, where each element needs to be constructed, you could use a map:

my @arr = map { [] } 1..$n;

edited Mar 16, 2011 at 10:30

answered Mar 16, 2011 at 10:19

Tim

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