An Example: Pick a Number

In this example, we'll play a sort of game where Perl prompts you for a number, picks a random number between 1 and your number, and then has you try to guess which number it's picked, like this:

% picknum.pl
Enter top number: 50
Pick a number between 1 and 50: 25
Too high!
Pick a number between 1 and 50: 10
Too low!
Pick a number between 1 and 50: 17
Too high!
Pick a number between 1 and 50: 13
Too high!
Pick a number between 1 and 50: 12
Correct!
Congratulations!  It took you 5 guesses to pick the right number.
%

This script makes use of two while loops and a number of if tests, as well as the rand function to pick the number. Listing 6.1 shows the code, our longest script so far.

Listing 6.1. The picknum.pl Script ...

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