shift

Synopsis

my $val = shift @array;
my $arg = shift;          # shifts from @_ inside a sub, @ARGV at top level

Description

Removes and returns the first element of an array, shifting all remaining elements down by one index.

Removes the first element from the array, shifts all remaining elements down by one, and returns the removed element. Returns undef if the array is empty.

When the SPECIAL flag is set (bare shift without an explicit array), the implicit target depends on call context: inside a subroutine it reads from @_ (pad slot 0); at file scope it reads from @ARGV. Handles both regular Av and AliasedAv (the typical representation of @_).

See also

unshift, pop, push, splice