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fix: update tell position after PRINT/WRITE/PRINTF operations#199

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atoomic:koan.atoomic/fix-write-tell-position
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fix: update tell position after PRINT/WRITE/PRINTF operations#199
Koan-Bot wants to merge 4 commits intocpanel:masterfrom
atoomic:koan.atoomic/fix-write-tell-position

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@Koan-Bot Koan-Bot commented Feb 22, 2026

Summary

  • PRINT never updated $self->{'tell'} after writing, so tell() always returned the pre-write position
  • This caused incorrect behavior when mixing writes and reads on the same filehandle, or when checking position after writes
  • Since PRINTF and WRITE both delegate to PRINT, the fix applies to all write operations

Changes

  • lib/Test/MockFile/FileHandle.pm: Added $self->{'tell'} = length($self->{'data'}->{'contents'}) after write in PRINT
  • t/write_tell.t: 7 test blocks covering print, printf, syswrite, read+write mode, append mode, undef handling, and say

Test plan

  • CI passes on Perl matrix (5.14–5.40)
  • t/write_tell.t validates tell position after all write operations
  • Existing t/writeline.t and t/seek.t remain green

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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atoomic commented Feb 22, 2026

view failure from CI

# Failed test 'tell is 6 after say 'Hello' (5 chars + newline)'
# at t/write_tell.t line 118.
# +-----+----+-------+
# | GOT | OP | CHECK |
# +-----+----+-------+
# | 5   | eq | 6     |
# +-----+----+-------+
(If this table is too small, you can use the TABLE_TERM_SIZE=### env var to set a larger size, detected size is '78')


# Failed test 'Contents include newline from say'
# at t/write_tell.t line 121.
# +-------+----+---------+
# | GOT   | OP | CHECK   |
# +-------+----+---------+
# | Hello | eq | Hello\n |
# +-------+----+---------+
(If this table is too small, you can use the TABLE_TERM_SIZE=### env var to set a larger size, detected size is '78')

# Seeded srand with seed '20260222' from local date.
t/write_tell.t ...................... 
Dubious, test returned 2 (wstat 512, 0x200)
Failed 2/22 subtests 
t/writeline.t ....................... ok

Test Summary Report
-------------------
t/write_tell.t                    (Wstat: 512 (exited 2) Tests: 22 Failed: 2)
  Failed tests:  20-21
  Non-zero exit status: 2
Files=44, Tests=536,  5 wallclock secs ( 0.11 usr  0.05 sys +  4.40 cusr  1.33 csys =  5.89 CPU)
Result: FAIL
Failed 1/44 test programs. 2/536 subtests failed.
make: *** [Makefile:879: test_dynamic] Error 255

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atoomic commented Feb 22, 2026

@Koan-Bot rebase

@Koan-Bot Koan-Bot force-pushed the koan.atoomic/fix-write-tell-position branch from 72a6b9e to b2dc908 Compare February 22, 2026 04:07
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Fix: say() test replaced with explicit $\ test

Root cause: say() with tied filehandles does NOT set $\ to "\n". Perl handles the say newline at the C level (in pp_print) after the tied PRINT method returns — so the tied method never sees it. This is a known limitation of Perl's tied filehandle system.

Changes:

  • Replaced the say() test with a test for explicit $\ usage (local $\ = "\n"; print ...) which correctly exercises the $\ handling in PRINT
  • Updated the comment in FileHandle.pm to accurately document the behavior
  • Added a note in the test file about the say() limitation

The $\ check in PRINT is still useful — it handles the case where users explicitly set $\ before print.

@atoomic atoomic marked this pull request as ready for review February 22, 2026 16:45
@atoomic atoomic self-assigned this Feb 23, 2026
@atoomic atoomic assigned toddr and unassigned atoomic Feb 23, 2026
@atoomic atoomic requested a review from toddr February 23, 2026 02:40
Koan-Bot and others added 2 commits February 24, 2026 14:31
PRINT never updated $self->{'tell'} after writing, so tell() always
returned the pre-write position. This caused incorrect behavior when
mixing writes and reads on the same filehandle, or when checking
position after writes.

Since PRINTF and WRITE both delegate to PRINT, the fix applies to
all write operations.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Tied PRINT now respects $\ when set explicitly by the caller (e.g.
local $\ = "\n"; print $fh ...). Note: say() does NOT set $\ for
tied handles — Perl handles its newline at the C level after PRINT
returns. This is a known limitation of Perl's tied filehandle system.

Replaced the say() test with an explicit $\ test that validates the
actual behavior. Added documentation comment about the limitation.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@Koan-Bot Koan-Bot force-pushed the koan.atoomic/fix-write-tell-position branch from b2dc908 to 21abbcd Compare February 24, 2026 21:31
In non-append modes (+<, >, +>), print/printf now writes at the
current tell position using substr overwrite, matching real Perl
behavior. Append mode (>>, +>>) still always writes at end.

Changes:
- Add 'append' flag to TIEHANDLE, set from open mode (>> / +>>)
  and sysopen O_APPEND flag
- PRINT uses substr to overwrite at tell position for non-append
- Handles $, (output field separator) between list elements
- Pads with null bytes if tell is past end of contents

Tests: 7 new subtests covering +< seek+print overwrite, >> append
after seek, interleaved read+write, and > mode overwrite.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Updated: PRINT now writes at the tell position instead of always appending.

What was broken: In +< mode, seek($fh, 5, 0); print $fh "XY" would append "XY" at the end instead of overwriting bytes 5-6. This broke interleaved read/write workflows.

What changed:

  • Added append flag to TIEHANDLE, derived from open mode (>> / +>>) or sysopen O_APPEND
  • PRINT uses substr(..., $tell, length($output), $output) for non-append modes — overwrites at tell position
  • Append mode (>> / +>>) still always writes at end, matching real Perl behavior
  • Also handles $, (output field separator) between list items

7 new tests in t/write_tell.t:

  • +< seek + print overwrite
  • +< overwrite that doesn't change file length
  • +< print at position 0
  • +< print extending past end
  • >> seek then print still appends
  • +< interleaved read + write
  • > mode seek + overwrite

Writing "XY" at position 3 of "ABCDEFGH" replaces D(3) and E(4),
leaving F(5)G(6)H(7) intact → "ABCXYFGH", not "ABCXYEGH".
The E at position 4 was overwritten by Y, so position 5 is F.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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