PERLDSC(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLDSC(1)

PERLDSC(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLDSC(1) #

PERLDSC(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLDSC(1)

NNAAMMEE #

 perldsc - Perl Data Structures Cookbook

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN #

 Perl lets us have complex data structures.  You can write something like
 this and all of a sudden, you'd have an array with three dimensions!

     for my $x (1 .. 10) {
         for my $y (1 .. 10) {
             for my $z (1 .. 10) {
                 $AoA[$x][$y][$z] =
                     $x ** $y + $z;
             }
         }
     }

 Alas, however simple this may appear, underneath it's a much more
 elaborate construct than meets the eye!

 How do you print it out?  Why can't you say just "print @AoA"?  How do
 you sort it?  How can you pass it to a function or get one of these back
 from a function?  Is it an object?  Can you save it to disk to read back
 later?  How do you access whole rows or columns of that matrix?  Do all
 the values have to be numeric?

 As you see, it's quite easy to become confused.  While some small portion
 of the blame for this can be attributed to the reference-based
 implementation, it's really more due to a lack of existing documentation
 with examples designed for the beginner.

 This document is meant to be a detailed but understandable treatment of
 the many different sorts of data structures you might want to develop.
 It should also serve as a cookbook of examples.  That way, when you need
 to create one of these complex data structures, you can just pinch,
 pilfer, or purloin a drop-in example from here.

 Let's look at each of these possible constructs in detail.  There are
 separate sections on each of the following:

 •    arrays of arrays

 •    hashes of arrays

 •    arrays of hashes

 •    hashes of hashes

 •    more elaborate constructs

 But for now, let's look at general issues common to all these types of
 data structures.

RREEFFEERREENNCCEESS #

 The most important thing to understand about all data structures in
 Perl--including multidimensional arrays--is that even though they might
 appear otherwise, Perl @ARRAYs and %HASHes are all internally one-
 dimensional.  They can hold only scalar values (meaning a string, number,
 or a reference).  They cannot directly contain other arrays or hashes,
 but instead contain _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s to other arrays or hashes.

 You can't use a reference to an array or hash in quite the same way that
 you would a real array or hash.  For C or C++ programmers unused to
 distinguishing between arrays and pointers to the same, this can be
 confusing.  If so, just think of it as the difference between a structure
 and a pointer to a structure.

 You can (and should) read more about references in perlref.  Briefly,
 references are rather like pointers that know what they point to.
 (Objects are also a kind of reference, but we won't be needing them right
 away--if ever.)  This means that when you have something which looks to
 you like an access to a two-or-more-dimensional array and/or hash, what's
 really going on is that the base type is merely a one-dimensional entity
 that contains references to the next level.  It's just that you can _u_s_e
 it as though it were a two-dimensional one.  This is actually the way
 almost all C multidimensional arrays work as well.

     $array[7][12]                       # array of arrays
     $array[7]{string}                   # array of hashes
     $hash{string}[7]                    # hash of arrays
     $hash{string}{'another string'}     # hash of hashes

 Now, because the top level contains only references, if you try to print
 out your array in with a simple pprriinntt(()) function, you'll get something
 that doesn't look very nice, like this:

     my @AoA = ( [2, 3], [4, 5, 7], [0] );
     print $AoA[1][2];
   7
     print @AoA;
   ARRAY(0x83c38)ARRAY(0x8b194)ARRAY(0x8b1d0)

 That's because Perl doesn't (ever) implicitly dereference your variables.
 If you want to get at the thing a reference is referring to, then you
 have to do this yourself using either prefix typing indicators, like
 "${$blah}", "@{$blah}", "@{$blah[$i]}", or else postfix pointer arrows,
 like "$a->[3]", "$h->{fred}", or even "$ob->method()->[3]".

CCOOMMMMOONN MMIISSTTAAKKEESS #

 The two most common mistakes made in constructing something like an array
 of arrays is either accidentally counting the number of elements or else
 taking a reference to the same memory location repeatedly.  Here's the
 case where you just get the count instead of a nested array:

     for my $i (1..10) {
         my @array = somefunc($i);
         $AoA[$i] = @array;      # WRONG!
     }

 That's just the simple case of assigning an array to a scalar and getting
 its element count.  If that's what you really and truly want, then you
 might do well to consider being a tad more explicit about it, like this:

     for my $i (1..10) {
         my @array = somefunc($i);
         $counts[$i] = scalar @array;
     }

 Here's the case of taking a reference to the same memory location again
 and again:

     # Either without strict or having an outer-scope my @array;
     # declaration.

     for my $i (1..10) {
         @array = somefunc($i);
         $AoA[$i] = \@array;     # WRONG!
     }

 So, what's the big problem with that?  It looks right, doesn't it?  After
 all, I just told you that you need an array of references, so by golly,
 you've made me one!

 Unfortunately, while this is true, it's still broken.  All the references
 in @AoA refer to the _v_e_r_y _s_a_m_e _p_l_a_c_e, and they will therefore all hold
 whatever was last in @array!  It's similar to the problem demonstrated in
 the following C program:

     #include <pwd.h>
     main() {
         struct passwd *getpwnam(), *rp, *dp;
         rp = getpwnam("root");
         dp = getpwnam("daemon");

         printf("daemon name is %s\nroot name is %s\n",
                 dp->pw_name, rp->pw_name);
     }

 Which will print

     daemon name is daemon
     root name is daemon

 The problem is that both "rp" and "dp" are pointers to the same location
 in memory!  In C, you'd have to remember to mmaalllloocc(()) yourself some new
 memory.  In Perl, you'll want to use the array constructor "[]" or the
 hash constructor "{}" instead.   Here's the right way to do the preceding
 broken code fragments:

     # Either without strict or having an outer-scope my @array;
     # declaration.

     for my $i (1..10) {
         @array = somefunc($i);
         $AoA[$i] = [ @array ];
     }

 The square brackets make a reference to a new array with a _c_o_p_y of what's
 in @array at the time of the assignment.  This is what you want.

 Note that this will produce something similar:

     # Either without strict or having an outer-scope my @array;
     # declaration.
     for my $i (1..10) {
         @array = 0 .. $i;
         $AoA[$i]->@* = @array;
     }

 Is it the same?  Well, maybe so--and maybe not.  The subtle difference is
 that when you assign something in square brackets, you know for sure it's
 always a brand new reference with a new _c_o_p_y of the data.  Something else
 could be going on in this new case with the "$AoA[$i]->@*" dereference on
 the left-hand-side of the assignment.  It all depends on whether $AoA[$i]
 had been undefined to start with, or whether it already contained a
 reference.  If you had already populated @AoA with references, as in

     $AoA[3] = \@another_array;

 Then the assignment with the indirection on the left-hand-side would use
 the existing reference that was already there:

     $AoA[3]->@* = @array;

 Of course, this _w_o_u_l_d have the "interesting" effect of clobbering
 @another_array.  (Have you ever noticed how when a programmer says
 something is "interesting", that rather than meaning "intriguing",
 they're disturbingly more apt to mean that it's "annoying", "difficult",
 or both?  :-)

 So just remember always to use the array or hash constructors with "[]"
 or "{}", and you'll be fine, although it's not always optimally
 efficient.

 Surprisingly, the following dangerous-looking construct will actually
 work out fine:

     for my $i (1..10) {
         my @array = somefunc($i);
         $AoA[$i] = \@array;
     }

 That's because mmyy(()) is more of a run-time statement than it is a compile-
 time declaration _p_e_r _s_e.  This means that the mmyy(()) variable is remade
 afresh each time through the loop.  So even though it _l_o_o_k_s as though you
 stored the same variable reference each time, you actually did not!  This
 is a subtle distinction that can produce more efficient code at the risk
 of misleading all but the most experienced of programmers.  So I usually
 advise against teaching it to beginners.  In fact, except for passing
 arguments to functions, I seldom like to see the gimme-a-reference
 operator (backslash) used much at all in code.  Instead, I advise
 beginners that they (and most of the rest of us) should try to use the
 much more easily understood constructors "[]" and "{}" instead of relying
 upon lexical (or dynamic) scoping and hidden reference-counting to do the
 right thing behind the scenes.

 Note also that there exists another way to write a dereference!  These
 two lines are equivalent:

     $AoA[$i]->@* = @array;
     @{ $AoA[$i] } = @array;

 The first form, called _p_o_s_t_f_i_x _d_e_r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e is generally easier to read,
 because the expression can be read from left to right, and there are no
 enclosing braces to balance.  On the other hand, it is also newer.  It
 was added to the language in 2014, so you will often encounter the other
 form, _c_i_r_c_u_m_f_i_x _d_e_r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e, in older code.

 In summary:

     $AoA[$i] = [ @array ];     # usually best
     $AoA[$i] = \@array;        # perilous; just how my() was that array?
     $AoA[$i]->@*  = @array;    # way too tricky for most programmers
     @{ $AoA[$i] } = @array;    # just as tricky, and also harder to read

CCAAVVEEAATT OONN PPRREECCEEDDEENNCCEE #

 Speaking of things like "@{$AoA[$i]}", the following are actually the
 same thing:

     $aref->[2][2]       # clear
     $$aref[2][2]        # confusing

 That's because Perl's precedence rules on its five prefix dereferencers
 (which look like someone swearing: "$ @ * % &") make them bind more
 tightly than the postfix subscripting brackets or braces!  This will no
 doubt come as a great shock to the C or C++ programmer, who is quite
 accustomed to using *a[i] to mean what's pointed to by the _i_'_t_h element
 of "a".  That is, they first take the subscript, and only then
 dereference the thing at that subscript.  That's fine in C, but this
 isn't C.

 The seemingly equivalent construct in Perl, $$aref[$i] first does the
 deref of $aref, making it take $aref as a reference to an array, and then
 dereference that, and finally tell you the _i_'_t_h value of the array
 pointed to by $AoA. If you wanted the C notion, you could write
 "$AoA[$i]->$*" to explicitly dereference the _i_'_t_h item, reading left to
 right.

WWHHYY YYOOUU SSHHOOUULLDD AALLWWAAYYSS “"uussee VVEERRSSIIOONN"” If this is starting to sound scarier than it’s worth, relax. Perl has some features to help you avoid its most common pitfalls. One way to avoid getting confused is to start every program with:

     use strict;

 This way, you'll be forced to declare all your variables with mmyy(()) and
 also disallow accidental "symbolic dereferencing".  Therefore if you'd
 done this:

     my $aref = [
         [ "fred", "barney", "pebbles", "bambam", "dino", ],
         [ "homer", "bart", "marge", "maggie", ],
         [ "george", "jane", "elroy", "judy", ],
     ];

     print $aref[2][2];

 The compiler would immediately flag that as an error _a_t _c_o_m_p_i_l_e _t_i_m_e,
 because you were accidentally accessing @aref, an undeclared variable,
 and it would thereby remind you to write instead:

     print $aref->[2][2]

 Since Perl version 5.12, a "use VERSION" declaration will also enable the
 "strict" pragma.  In addition, it will also enable a feature bundle,
 giving more useful features.  Since version 5.36 it will also enable the
 "warnings" pragma.  Often the best way to activate all these things at
 once is to start a file with:

     use v5.36;

 In this way, every file will start with "strict", "warnings", and many
 useful named features all switched on, as well as several older features
 being switched off (such as "indirect").  For more information, see "use
 VERSION" in perlfunc.

DDEEBBUUGGGGIINNGG #

 You can use the debugger's "x" command to dump out complex data
 structures.  For example, given the assignment to $AoA above, here's the
 debugger output:

     DB<1> x $AoA
     $AoA = ARRAY(0x13b5a0)
        0  ARRAY(0x1f0a24)
           0  'fred'
           1  'barney'
           2  'pebbles'
           3  'bambam'
           4  'dino'
        1  ARRAY(0x13b558)
           0  'homer'
           1  'bart'
           2  'marge'
           3  'maggie'
        2  ARRAY(0x13b540)
           0  'george'
           1  'jane'
           2  'elroy'
           3  'judy'

CCOODDEE EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS #

 Presented with little comment here are short code examples illustrating
 access of various types of data structures.

AARRRRAAYYSS OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS #

DDeeccllaarraattiioonn ooff aann AARRRRAAYY OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS my @AoA = ( [ “fred”, “barney” ], [ “george”, “jane”, “elroy” ], [ “homer”, “marge”, “bart” ], );

GGeenneerraattiioonn ooff aann AARRRRAAYY OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS # reading from file while ( <> ) { push @AoA, [ split ]; }

  # calling a function
  for my $i ( 1 .. 10 ) {
      $AoA[$i] = [ somefunc($i) ];
  }

  # using temp vars
  for my $i ( 1 .. 10 ) {
      my @tmp = somefunc($i);
      $AoA[$i] = [ @tmp ];
  }

  # add to an existing row
  push $AoA[0]->@*, "wilma", "betty";

AAcccceessss aanndd PPrriinnttiinngg ooff aann AARRRRAAYY OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS # one element $AoA[0][0] = “Fred”;

  # another element
  $AoA[1][1] =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;

  # print the whole thing with refs
  for my $aref ( @AoA ) {
      print "\t [ @$aref ],\n";
  }

  # print the whole thing with indices
  for my $i ( 0 .. $#AoA ) {
      print "\t [ $AoA[$i]->@* ],\n";
  }

  # print the whole thing one at a time
  for my $i ( 0 .. $#AoA ) {
      for my $j ( 0 .. $AoA[$i]->$#* ) {
          print "elem at ($i, $j) is $AoA[$i][$j]\n";
      }
  }

HHAASSHHEESS OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS #

DDeeccllaarraattiioonn ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS my %HoA = ( flintstones => [ “fred”, “barney” ], jetsons => [ “george”, “jane”, “elroy” ], simpsons => [ “homer”, “marge”, “bart” ], );

GGeenneerraattiioonn ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS # reading from file # flintstones: fred barney wilma dino while ( <> ) { next unless s/^(.?):\s//; $HoA{$1} = [ split ]; }

  # reading from file; more temps
  # flintstones: fred barney wilma dino
  while ( my $line = <> ) {
      my ($who, $rest) = split /:\s*/, $line, 2;
      my @fields = split ' ', $rest;
      $HoA{$who} = [ @fields ];
  }

  # calling a function that returns a list
  for my $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
      $HoA{$group} = [ get_family($group) ];
  }

  # likewise, but using temps
  for my $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
      my @members = get_family($group);
      $HoA{$group} = [ @members ];
  }

  # append new members to an existing family
  push $HoA{flintstones}->@*, "wilma", "betty";

AAcccceessss aanndd PPrriinnttiinngg ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF AARRRRAAYYSS # one element $HoA{flintstones}[0] = “Fred”;

  # another element
  $HoA{simpsons}[1] =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;

  # print the whole thing
  foreach my $family ( keys %HoA ) {
      print "$family: $HoA{$family}->@* \n"
  }

  # print the whole thing with indices
  foreach my $family ( keys %HoA ) {
      print "family: ";
      foreach my $i ( 0 .. $HoA{$family}->$#* ) {
          print " $i = $HoA{$family}[$i]";
      }
      print "\n";
  }

  # print the whole thing sorted by number of members
  foreach my $family ( sort { $HoA{$b}->@* <=> $HoA{$a}->@* } keys %HoA ) {
      print "$family: $HoA{$family}->@* \n"
  }

  # print the whole thing sorted by number of members and name
  foreach my $family ( sort {
                             $HoA{$b}->@* <=> $HoA{$a}->@*
                                           ||
                                       $a cmp $b
             } keys %HoA )
  {
      print "$family: ", join(", ", sort $HoA{$family}->@* ), "\n";
  }

AARRRRAAYYSS OOFF HHAASSHHEESS #

DDeeccllaarraattiioonn ooff aann AARRRRAAYY OOFF HHAASSHHEESS my @AoH = ( { Lead => “fred”, Friend => “barney”, }, { Lead => “george”, Wife => “jane”, Son => “elroy”, }, { Lead => “homer”, Wife => “marge”, Son => “bart”, } );

GGeenneerraattiioonn ooff aann AARRRRAAYY OOFF HHAASSHHEESS # reading from file # format: LEAD=fred FRIEND=barney while ( <> ) { my $rec = {}; for my $field ( split ) { my ($key, $value) = split /=/, $field; $rec->{$key} = $value; } push @AoH, $rec; }

  # reading from file
  # format: LEAD=fred FRIEND=barney
  # no temp
  while ( <> ) {
      push @AoH, { split /[\s+=]/ };
  }

  # calling a function  that returns a key/value pair list, like
  # "lead","fred","daughter","pebbles"
  while ( my %fields = getnextpairset() ) {
      push @AoH, { %fields };
  }

  # likewise, but using no temp vars
  while (<>) {
      push @AoH, { parsepairs($_) };
  }

  # add key/value to an element
  $AoH[0]{pet} = "dino";
  $AoH[2]{pet} = "santa's little helper";

AAcccceessss aanndd PPrriinnttiinngg ooff aann AARRRRAAYY OOFF HHAASSHHEESS # one element $AoH[0]{lead} = “fred”;

  # another element
  $AoH[1]{lead} =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;

  # print the whole thing with refs
  for my $href ( @AoH ) {
      print "{ ";
      for my $role ( keys %$href ) {
          print "$role=$href->{$role} ";
      }
      print "}\n";
  }

  # print the whole thing with indices
  for my $i ( 0 .. $#AoH ) {
      print "$i is { ";
      for my $role ( keys $AoH[$i]->%* ) {
          print "$role=$AoH[$i]{$role} ";
      }
      print "}\n";
  }

  # print the whole thing one at a time
  for my $i ( 0 .. $#AoH ) {
      for my $role ( keys $AoH[$i]->%* ) {
          print "elem at ($i, $role) is $AoH[$i]{$role}\n";
      }
  }

HHAASSHHEESS OOFF HHAASSHHEESS #

DDeeccllaarraattiioonn ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF HHAASSHHEESS my %HoH = ( flintstones => { lead => “fred”, pal => “barney”, }, jetsons => { lead => “george”, wife => “jane”, “his boy” => “elroy”, }, simpsons => { lead => “homer”, wife => “marge”, kid => “bart”, }, );

GGeenneerraattiioonn ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF HHAASSHHEESS # reading from file # flintstones: lead=fred pal=barney wife=wilma pet=dino while ( <> ) { next unless s/^(.?):\s//; my $who = $1; for my $field ( split ) { my ($key, $value) = split /=/, $field; $HoH{$who}{$key} = $value; } }

  # reading from file; more temps
  while ( <> ) {
      next unless s/^(.*?):\s*//;
      my $who = $1;
      my $rec = {};
      $HoH{$who} = $rec;
      for my $field ( split ) {
          my ($key, $value) = split /=/, $field;
          $rec->{$key} = $value;
      }
  }

  # calling a function  that returns a key,value hash
  for my $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
      $HoH{$group} = { get_family($group) };
  }

  # likewise, but using temps
  for my $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
      my %members = get_family($group);
      $HoH{$group} = { %members };
  }

  # append new members to an existing family
  my %new_folks = (
      wife => "wilma",
      pet  => "dino",
  );

  for my $what (keys %new_folks) {
      $HoH{flintstones}{$what} = $new_folks{$what};
  }

AAcccceessss aanndd PPrriinnttiinngg ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF HHAASSHHEESS # one element $HoH{flintstones}{wife} = “wilma”;

  # another element
  $HoH{simpsons}{lead} =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;

  # print the whole thing
  foreach my $family ( keys %HoH ) {
      print "$family: { ";
      for my $role ( keys $HoH{$family}->%* ) {
          print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
      }
      print "}\n";
  }

  # print the whole thing  somewhat sorted
  foreach my $family ( sort keys %HoH ) {
      print "$family: { ";
      for my $role ( sort keys $HoH{$family}->%* ) {
          print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
      }
      print "}\n";
  }


  # print the whole thing sorted by number of members
  foreach my $family ( sort { $HoH{$b}->%* <=> $HoH{$a}->%* } keys %HoH ) {
      print "$family: { ";
      for my $role ( sort keys $HoH{$family}->%* ) {
          print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
      }
      print "}\n";
  }

  # establish a sort order (rank) for each role
  my $i = 0;
  my %rank;
  for ( qw(lead wife son daughter pal pet) ) { $rank{$_} = ++$i }

  # now print the whole thing sorted by number of members
  foreach my $family ( sort { $HoH{$b}->%* <=> $HoH{$a}->%* } keys %HoH ) {
      print "$family: { ";
      # and print these according to rank order
      for my $role ( sort { $rank{$a} <=> $rank{$b} }
                                                keys $HoH{$family}->%* )
      {
          print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
      }
      print "}\n";
  }

MMOORREE EELLAABBOORRAATTEE RREECCOORRDDSS #

DDeeccllaarraattiioonn ooff MMOORREE EELLAABBOORRAATTEE RREECCOORRDDSS Here’s a sample showing how to create and use a record whose fields are of many different sorts:

      my $rec = {
          TEXT      => $string,
          SEQUENCE  => [ @old_values ],
          LOOKUP    => { %some_table },
          THATCODE  => \&some_function,
          THISCODE  => sub { $_[0] ** $_[1] },

HANDLE => *STDOUT, #

      };

      print $rec->{TEXT};

      print $rec->{SEQUENCE}[0];
      my $last = pop $rec->{SEQUENCE}->@*;

      print $rec->{LOOKUP}{"key"};
      my ($first_k, $first_v) = each $rec->{LOOKUP}->%*;

      my $answer = $rec->{THATCODE}->($arg);
      $answer = $rec->{THISCODE}->($arg1, $arg2);

      # careful of extra block braces on fh ref
      print { $rec->{HANDLE} } "a string\n";

      use FileHandle;
      $rec->{HANDLE}->autoflush(1);
      $rec->{HANDLE}->print(" a string\n");

DDeeccllaarraattiioonn ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF CCOOMMPPLLEEXX RREECCOORRDDSS my %TV = ( flintstones => { series => “flintstones”, nights => [ qw(monday thursday friday) ], members => [ { name => “fred”, role => “lead”, age => 36, }, { name => “wilma”, role => “wife”, age => 31, }, { name => “pebbles”, role => “kid”, age => 4, }, ], },

         jetsons     => {
             series   => "jetsons",
             nights   => [ qw(wednesday saturday) ],
             members  => [
                 { name => "george",  role => "lead", age  => 41, },
                 { name => "jane",    role => "wife", age  => 39, },
                 { name => "elroy",   role => "kid",  age  =>  9, },
             ],
          },

         simpsons    => {
             series   => "simpsons",
             nights   => [ qw(monday) ],
             members  => [
                 { name => "homer", role => "lead", age  => 34, },
                 { name => "marge", role => "wife", age => 37, },
                 { name => "bart",  role => "kid",  age  =>  11, },
             ],
          },
       );

GGeenneerraattiioonn ooff aa HHAASSHH OOFF CCOOMMPPLLEEXX RREECCOORRDDSS # reading from file # this is most easily done by having the file itself be # in the raw data format as shown above. perl is happy # to parse complex data structures if declared as data, so # sometimes it’s easiest to do that

      # here's a piece by piece build up
      my $rec = {};
      $rec->{series} = "flintstones";
      $rec->{nights} = [ find_days() ];

      my @members = ();
      # assume this file in field=value syntax
      while (<>) {
          my %fields = split /[\s=]+/;
          push @members, { %fields };
      }
      $rec->{members} = [ @members ];

      # now remember the whole thing
      $TV{ $rec->{series} } = $rec;

      ###########################################################
      # now, you might want to make interesting extra fields that
      # include pointers back into the same data structure so if
      # change one piece, it changes everywhere, like for example
      # if you wanted a {kids} field that was a reference
      # to an array of the kids' records without having duplicate
      # records and thus update problems.
      ###########################################################
      foreach my $family (keys %TV) {
          my $rec = $TV{$family}; # temp pointer
          my @kids = ();
          for my $person ( $rec->{members}->@* ) {
              if ($person->{role} =~ /kid|son|daughter/) {
                  push @kids, $person;
              }
          }
          # REMEMBER: $rec and $TV{$family} point to same data!!
          $rec->{kids} = [ @kids ];
      }

      # you copied the array, but the array itself contains pointers
      # to uncopied objects. this means that if you make bart get
      # older via

      $TV{simpsons}{kids}[0]{age}++;

      # then this would also change in
      print $TV{simpsons}{members}[2]{age};

      # because $TV{simpsons}{kids}[0] and $TV{simpsons}{members}[2]
      # both point to the same underlying anonymous hash table

      # print the whole thing
      foreach my $family ( keys %TV ) {
          print "the $family";
          print " is on during $TV{$family}{nights}->@*\n";
          print "its members are:\n";
          for my $who ( $TV{$family}{members}->@* ) {
              print " $who->{name} ($who->{role}), age $who->{age}\n";
          }
          print "it turns out that $TV{$family}{lead} has ";
          print scalar ( $TV{$family}{kids}->@* ), " kids named ";
          print join (", ", map { $_->{name} } $TV{$family}{kids}->@* );
          print "\n";
      }

DDaattaabbaassee TTiieess You cannot easily tie a multilevel data structure (such as a hash of hashes) to a dbm file. The first problem is that all but GDBM and Berkeley DB have size limitations, but beyond that, you also have problems with how references are to be represented on disk. One experimental module that does partially attempt to address this need is the MLDBM module. Check your nearest CPAN site as described in perlmodlib for source code to MLDBM.

SSEEEE AALLSSOO #

 perlref, perllol, perldata, perlobj

AAUUTTHHOORR #

 Tom Christiansen <_t_c_h_r_i_s_t_@_p_e_r_l_._c_o_m>

perl v5.36.3 2023-02-15 PERLDSC(1)