A Note about the Index

• Punctuation in the index is sorted in the alphabetical order of each symbol's English equivalent: ampersand, asterisk, at sign, backslash, etc.
• Entries that consist only of punctuation are listed at the front of the index.
• Variable names beginning with $ and consisting only of punctuation, such as $_ and $^, are combined under the heading $ variables, starting on the Symbols page of the index.
• Terms with initial punctuation followed by alphanumeric characters, such as %INC hash, are sorted by their alphanumeric characters (e.g., INChash).