Perl | delete() Function

Delete() in Perl is used to delete the specified keys and their associated values from a hash, or the specified elements in the case of an array. This operation works only on individual elements or slices.

Syntax: delete(LIST)

Parameters:
LIST which is to be deleted

Returns:
undef if the key does not exist otherwise it returns the value associated with the deleted key

Example 1: Implementing delete() on a Hash

#!/usr/bin/perl

# Initializing hash
%hash1 = ('Geeks' => 45, 'for' => 30, 'Now' => 40);

# To delete the List passed as parameter
$deleted_element = delete($hash1{'for'});

# Printing elements of Hash
print "$hash1{'Geeks'}\n";
print "$hash1{'for'}\n";
print "$hash1{'Now'}\n";

# Printing the deleted element
print "Deleted element: $deleted_element";

Output:

45

40
Deleted element: 30

Example 2: Implementing delete() on an Array

#!/usr/bin/perl

# Initializing array
@array1 = (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60);

# To delete the array element at index 2
$deleted_element = delete(@array1[2]);

# Printing elements of Array
print "Updated Array: @array1";

# Printing the deleted element
print "\nDeleted element: $deleted_element";

Output:

Updated Array: 10 20  40 50 60
Deleted element: 30