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Diffstat (limited to 'pod/perlfunc.pod')
| -rw-r--r-- | pod/perlfunc.pod | 10 |
1 files changed, 7 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/pod/perlfunc.pod b/pod/perlfunc.pod index 558ae4edd1..2049dd57a2 100644 --- a/pod/perlfunc.pod +++ b/pod/perlfunc.pod @@ -5068,9 +5068,13 @@ case the SCALAR is empty you can use OFFSET but only zero offset. =item tell -Returns the current position for FILEHANDLE. FILEHANDLE may be an -expression whose value gives the name of the actual filehandle. If -FILEHANDLE is omitted, assumes the file last read. +Returns the current position for FILEHANDLE, or -1 on error. FILEHANDLE +may be an expression whose value gives the name of the actual filehandle. +If FILEHANDLE is omitted, assumes the file last read. + +The return value of tell() for the standard streams like the STDIN +depends on the operating system: it may return -1 or something else. +tell() on pipes, fifos, and sockets usually returns -1. There is no C<systell> function. Use C<sysseek(FH, 0, 1)> for that. |