Open In App

Perl | Implementing a Stack

Improve
Improve
Like Article
Like
Save
Share
Report

Stack in Perl is a linear data structure that follows the LIFO (Last In First Out) or FILO (First In Last Out) order.
In simpler terms, a stack is an array in which insertion and deletion takes place at only one end called the top of the stack.
Pushing is the process of insertion of elements into a stack.
Popping is the process of removal of topmost element of a stack.

Making a stack

 
Creating a stack in Perl is rather simple. All we need to do is declare an array.
The stack could be empty, as follows:

@stack;

Or it could be initialized:

@stack = (1, 2, 3);
Pushing items to a stack

 
Pushing can be done using either the push() function or the splice() function.

  • Pushing using push():

    Syntax: push(@stack, list);
    Parameters:

    • @stack – The stack on which push is to be performed.
    • list – The elements to be pushed into a stack. These elements might be scalar, array, hash or any combination of these.

    Example:




    #!/usr/bin/perl
      
    # Intitialising the Stack
    @stack = (1..3);
      
    # Original stack
    print "Original Stack: @stack";
      
    # Scalar to be pushed
    $scalar = "scalar";
      
    # Array to be pushed
    @array = ("a", "r", "r", "a", "y");
      
    # Hash to be pushed
    %hash = ("Geeks" => 10, 
             "for Geeks" => 20);
               
    # scalars, arrays and hashes can be
    # inserted at the same time
    push(@stack, ($scalar, @array, %hash)); 
      
    # Updated Stack after 
    # Push operations
    print("\nUpdated Stack: @stack");

    
    

    Output:

    Original Stack: 1 2 3
    Updated Stack: 1 2 3 scalar a r r a y Geeks 10 for Geeks 20
    
  • Pushing using splice():

    Syntax: splice(@stack, scalar(@stack), 0, list);
    Parameters:

    • splice() function appends the ‘list’ at the end of @stack.
    • THe ‘list’ could be a scalar, an array or a hash.

    Example:




    #!/usr/bin/perl
      
    # Intitialising the Stack
    @stack = (1..3);
      
    # Original stack
    print "Original Stack: @stack";
      
    # Scalar to be pushed
    $scalar = "scalar";
      
    # Array to be pushed
    @array = ("a", "r", "r", "a", "y");
      
    # Hash to be pushed
    %hash = ("Geeks" => 10, 
             "for Geeks" => 20);
      
    # scalars, arrays and hashes can be
    # inserted at the same time
    splice(@stack, scalar(@stack), 0, 
           ($scalar, @array, %hash));
             
    # Updated Stack after 
    # Push operations
    print("\nUpdated Stack: @stack");

    
    

    Output:

    Original Stack: 1 2 3
    Updated Stack: 1 2 3 scalar a r r a y Geeks 10 for Geeks 20
    
Popping elements from a Stack

 
Popping can be done using either the pop() function or the splice() function.

  • Popping using pop():

    Syntax: $popped_element = pop(@stack);
    Parameters:

    • pop() function returns the popped element.
    • $popped_element contains the element popped from the stack.

    Example:




    #!/usr/bin/perl
      
    # Intitialising the Stack
    @stack = (1..3);
      
    # Original stack
    print "Original Stack: @stack";
      
    # Topmost element i.e. 3 is 
    # removed and returned
    $popped_element = pop(@stack); 
      
    # Printing popped element
    print "\nPopped element: $popped_element";
             
    # Updated Stack after 
    # Pop operation
    print("\nUpdated Stack: @stack");

    
    

    Output:

    Original Stack: 1 2 3
    Popped element: 3
    Updated Stack: 1 2
    
    • If the stack is empty, undef is returned. undef is analogous to NULL in Java and None in Python. However, no error is raised.
    • Example:




      #!/usr/bin/perl
        
      # Creating a Stack
      @stack;
        
      # undef is returned since the 
      # stack is empty. 
      # No error is raised.
      $popped_element = pop(@stack); 
        
      # Printing popped element
      # Since it contains no value,
      # hence a blank space is returned
      print "Popped element: $popped_element";

      
      

      Output:

      Popped element: 
      
  • Popping using splice()::

    Syntax: $popped_element=splice(@stack, -1);
    Parameters:

    • splice() function removes the last element of the stack and returns it.
    • $popped_element stores the returned value.

    Example:




    #!/usr/bin/perl
      
    # Intitialising the Stack
    @stack = (1..3);
      
    # Original stack
    print "Original Stack: @stack";
      
    # popping using splice()
    $popped_element = splice(@stack, -1);
      
    # Printing popped element
    print "\nPopped element: $popped_element";
             
    # Updated Stack after 
    # Pop operation
    print("\nUpdated Stack: @stack");

    
    

    Output:

    Original Stack: 1 2 3
    Popped element: 3
    Updated Stack: 1 2
    
    • An error is raised, if the stack is empty. The following code raises an error:



    • use warnings;
      #!/usr/bin/perl
        
      use warnings;
        
      # Creating a Stack
      @stack;
        
      # popping using splice()
      # An error is raised here
      $popped_element = splice(@stack, -1); 
        
      # Printing popped element
      print "\nPopped element: $popped_element";
               
      # Updated Stack after 
      # Pop operation
      print("\nStack: @stack");

      
      

      Runtime Error:

      Useless use of a variable in void context at /home/59c7c19979aa9e46564cd145d5fe5601.pl line 6.
      Modification of non-creatable array value attempted, subscript -1 at /home/59c7c19979aa9e46564cd145d5fe5601.pl line 10.



      Last Updated : 21 Feb, 2019
      Like Article
      Save Article
      Previous
      Next
      Share your thoughts in the comments
Similar Reads