What is recursion in Perl?

Can you explain what recursion is in Perl?

Recursion in Perl is a technique where a function calls itself to solve a problem. It's often used for tasks like traversing data structures.

Can you give me an example of a recursive function in Perl?

Sure! Here's a simple example of a recursive function that calculates the factorial of a number:

sub factorial {
    my ($n) = @_;
    return 1 if $n == 0;
    return $n * factorial($n - 1);
}

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using recursion?

Advantages include simpler code and easier problem-solving for complex tasks. Disadvantages are higher memory usage and potential stack overflow.

When should I avoid using recursion?

You should avoid recursion for problems that require deep recursion levels or when performance is critical, as it can lead to stack overflow.