Perl | shift() Function

shift() function in Perl returns the first value in an array, removing it and shifting the elements of the array list to the left by one. Shift operation removes the value like pop but is taken from the start of the array instead of the end as in pop. This function returns undef if the array is empty otherwise returns the first element of the array.

Syntax: shift(Array)

Returns: -1 if array is Empty otherwise first element of the array

Example 1:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

# Defining Array to be shifted
@array1 = ("Geeks", "For", "Geeks");

# Original Array
print "Original Array: @array1\n";

# Performing the shift operation
$shifted_element = shift(@array1);

# Printing the shifted element
print "Shifted element: $shifted_element\n";

# Updated Array
print "Updated Array: @array1";

Output:

Original Array: Geeks For Geeks
Shifted element: Geeks
Updated Array: For Geeks

Example 2:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

# Program to move first element
# of an array to the end

# Defining Array to be shifted
@array1 = ("Geeks", "For", "Geeks");

# Original Array
print "Original Array: @array1\n";

# Performing the shift operation
$shifted_element = shift(@array1);

# Placing First element in the end
@array1[3] = $shifted_element;

# Updated Array
print "Updated Array: @array1";

Output:

Original Array: Geeks For Geeks
Updated Array: For Geeks  Geeks