If I have a variable my $a = True, then I get this output from the following code:
say «a list of words foo $a bar baz».raku;
# OUTPUT: ("a", "list", "of", "words", "foo", "True", "bar", "baz")
That is, even though the result is a List, the element True is stringified before being included in the list – the list contains "True", not True. Is there any way to avoid that stringification while still using interpolation?
Would there be a way to do so if $a were a class I'd defined (and thus can write the Str method for) rather than a Bool?
(I am aware that I can write the more verbose ("a", "list", "of", "words", "foo", $a, "bar", "baz") or «a list of words foo».Slip, $a, «bar baz».Slip, but I'm asking if there is a way to still use interpolation).
Interpolation is putting a thing into a string.
"a b c $thing d e f"
It does that by first turning the thing itself into a string, and concatenating the rest of the string around it.
Basically the above compiles into this code:
infix:<~>( ｢a b c ｣, $thing.Str, ｢ d e f｣ )
« a b c $thing »
Is short for:
Q :double :quotewords « a b c $thing d e f »
That is use the Quoting DSL, turning on :double quote semantics (“”) and turning on :quotewords.
:quotewords is the feature which splits the string into its individual parts.
It happens only after it has been turned into a string.
Imagine that the above compiles into:
Internals::quotewords( infix:<~>( ｢ a b c ｣, $thing.Str, ｢ d e f ｣ ) )
There is another way to get what you want, other than using .Slip or prefix |.
flat «a list of words foo», $a, «bar baz»
The whole purpose of the quoting DSL is that it produces a string.
That said :words, :quotewords, and :val all change it so that it returns something other than a single string.
And the idea of them is that they alter the DSL.
So MAYBE you could convince enough people that such a change would be worth it. Thats a big maybe.
It would potentially break many existing codebases, so you would have an uphill battle to do so.