PERLREF(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLREF(1) #
PERLREF(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLREF(1)
NNAAMMEE #
perlref - Perl references and nested data structures
NNOOTTEE #
This is complete documentation about all aspects of references. For a
shorter, tutorial introduction to just the essential features, see
perlreftut.
DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN #
Before release 5 of Perl it was difficult to represent complex data
structures, because all references had to be symbolic--and even then it
was difficult to refer to a variable instead of a symbol table entry.
Perl now not only makes it easier to use symbolic references to
variables, but also lets you have "hard" references to any piece of data
or code. Any scalar may hold a hard reference. Because arrays and
hashes contain scalars, you can now easily build arrays of arrays, arrays
of hashes, hashes of arrays, arrays of hashes of functions, and so on.
Hard references are smart--they keep track of reference counts for you,
automatically freeing the thing referred to when its reference count goes
to zero. (Reference counts for values in self-referential or cyclic data
structures may not go to zero without a little help; see "Circular
References" for a detailed explanation.) If that thing happens to be an
object, the object is destructed. See perlobj for more about objects.
(In a sense, everything in Perl is an object, but we usually reserve the
word for references to objects that have been officially "blessed" into a
class package.)
Symbolic references are names of variables or other objects, just as a
symbolic link in a Unix filesystem contains merely the name of a file.
The *glob notation is something of a symbolic reference. (Symbolic
references are sometimes called "soft references", but please don't call
them that; references are confusing enough without useless synonyms.)
In contrast, hard references are more like hard links in a Unix file
system: They are used to access an underlying object without concern for
what its (other) name is. When the word "reference" is used without an
adjective, as in the following paragraph, it is usually talking about a
hard reference.
References are easy to use in Perl. There is just one overriding
principle: in general, Perl does no implicit referencing or
dereferencing. When a scalar is holding a reference, it always behaves
as a simple scalar. It doesn't magically start being an array or hash or
subroutine; you have to tell it explicitly to do so, by dereferencing it.
MMaakkiinngg RReeffeerreenncceess References can be created in several ways.
_B_a_c_k_s_l_a_s_h _O_p_e_r_a_t_o_r
By using the backslash operator on a variable, subroutine, or value.
(This works much like the & (address-of) operator in C.) This typically
creates _a_n_o_t_h_e_r reference to a variable, because there's already a
reference to the variable in the symbol table. But the symbol table
reference might go away, and you'll still have the reference that the
backslash returned. Here are some examples:
$scalarref = \$foo;
$arrayref = \@ARGV;
$hashref = \%ENV;
$coderef = \&handler;
$globref = \*foo;
It isn't possible to create a true reference to an IO handle (filehandle
or dirhandle) using the backslash operator. The most you can get is a
reference to a typeglob, which is actually a complete symbol table entry.
But see the explanation of the *foo{THING} syntax below. However, you
can still use type globs and globrefs as though they were IO handles.
_S_q_u_a_r_e _B_r_a_c_k_e_t_s
A reference to an anonymous array can be created using square brackets:
$arrayref = [1, 2, ['a', 'b', 'c']];
Here we've created a reference to an anonymous array of three elements
whose final element is itself a reference to another anonymous array of
three elements. (The multidimensional syntax described later can be used
to access this. For example, after the above, "$arrayref->[2][1]" would
have the value "b".)
Taking a reference to an enumerated list is not the same as using square
brackets--instead it's the same as creating a list of references!
@list = (\$a, \@b, \%c);
@list = \($a, @b, %c); # same thing!
As a special case, "\(@foo)" returns a list of references to the contents
of @foo, not a reference to @foo itself. Likewise for %foo, except that
the key references are to copies (since the keys are just strings rather
than full-fledged scalars).
_C_u_r_l_y _B_r_a_c_k_e_t_s
A reference to an anonymous hash can be created using curly brackets:
$hashref = {
'Adam' => 'Eve',
'Clyde' => 'Bonnie',
};
Anonymous hash and array composers like these can be intermixed freely to
produce as complicated a structure as you want. The multidimensional
syntax described below works for these too. The values above are
literals, but variables and expressions would work just as well, because
assignment operators in Perl (even within llooccaall(()) or mmyy(())) are executable
statements, not compile-time declarations.
Because curly brackets (braces) are used for several other things
including BLOCKs, you may occasionally have to disambiguate braces at the
beginning of a statement by putting a "+" or a "return" in front so that
Perl realizes the opening brace isn't starting a BLOCK. The economy and
mnemonic value of using curlies is deemed worth this occasional extra
hassle.
For example, if you wanted a function to make a new hash and return a
reference to it, you have these options:
sub hashem { { @_ } } # silently wrong
sub hashem { +{ @_ } } # ok
sub hashem { return { @_ } } # ok
On the other hand, if you want the other meaning, you can do this:
sub showem { { @_ } } # ambiguous (currently ok,
# but may change)
sub showem { {; @_ } } # ok
sub showem { { return @_ } } # ok
The leading "+{" and "{;" always serve to disambiguate the expression to
mean either the HASH reference, or the BLOCK.
_A_n_o_n_y_m_o_u_s _S_u_b_r_o_u_t_i_n_e_s
A reference to an anonymous subroutine can be created by using "sub"
without a subname:
$coderef = sub { print "Boink!\n" };
Note the semicolon. Except for the code inside not being immediately
executed, a "sub {}" is not so much a declaration as it is an operator,
like "do{}" or "eval{}". (However, no matter how many times you execute
that particular line (unless you're in an "eval("...")"), $coderef will
still have a reference to the _s_a_m_e anonymous subroutine.)
Anonymous subroutines act as closures with respect to mmyy(()) variables,
that is, variables lexically visible within the current scope. Closure
is a notion out of the Lisp world that says if you define an anonymous
function in a particular lexical context, it pretends to run in that
context even when it's called outside the context.
In human terms, it's a funny way of passing arguments to a subroutine
when you define it as well as when you call it. It's useful for setting
up little bits of code to run later, such as callbacks. You can even do
object-oriented stuff with it, though Perl already provides a different
mechanism to do that--see perlobj.
You might also think of closure as a way to write a subroutine template
without using eevvaall(()). Here's a small example of how closures work:
sub newprint {
my $x = shift;
return sub { my $y = shift; print "$x, $y!\n"; };
}
$h = newprint("Howdy");
$g = newprint("Greetings");
# Time passes...
&$h("world");
&$g("earthlings");
This prints
Howdy, world!
Greetings, earthlings!
Note particularly that $x continues to refer to the value passed into
nneewwpprriinntt(()) _d_e_s_p_i_t_e "my $x" having gone out of scope by the time the
anonymous subroutine runs. That's what a closure is all about.
This applies only to lexical variables, by the way. Dynamic variables
continue to work as they have always worked. Closure is not something
that most Perl programmers need trouble themselves about to begin with.
_C_o_n_s_t_r_u_c_t_o_r_s
References are often returned by special subroutines called constructors.
Perl objects are just references to a special type of object that happens
to know which package it's associated with. Constructors are just
special subroutines that know how to create that association. They do so
by starting with an ordinary reference, and it remains an ordinary
reference even while it's also being an object. Constructors are often
named "new()". You _c_a_n call them indirectly:
$objref = new Doggie( Tail => 'short', Ears => 'long' );
But that can produce ambiguous syntax in certain cases, so it's often
better to use the direct method invocation approach:
$objref = Doggie->new(Tail => 'short', Ears => 'long');
use Term::Cap;
$terminal = Term::Cap->Tgetent( { OSPEED => 9600 });
use Tk;
$main = MainWindow->new();
$menubar = $main->Frame(-relief => "raised",
-borderwidth => 2)
This indirect object syntax is only available when "use feature
"indirect"" is in effect, and that is not the case when "use v5.36" (or
higher) is requested, it is best to avoid indirect object syntax
entirely.
_A_u_t_o_v_i_v_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n
References of the appropriate type can spring into existence if you
dereference them in a context that assumes they exist. Because we
haven't talked about dereferencing yet, we can't show you any examples
yet.
_T_y_p_e_g_l_o_b _S_l_o_t_s
A reference can be created by using a special syntax, lovingly known as
the *foo{THING} syntax. *foo{THING} returns a reference to the THING
slot in *foo (which is the symbol table entry which holds everything
known as foo).
$scalarref = *foo{SCALAR};
$arrayref = *ARGV{ARRAY};
$hashref = *ENV{HASH};
$coderef = *handler{CODE};
$ioref = *STDIN{IO};
$globref = *foo{GLOB};
$formatref = *foo{FORMAT};
$globname = *foo{NAME}; # "foo"
$pkgname = *foo{PACKAGE}; # "main"
Most of these are self-explanatory, but *foo{IO} deserves special
attention. It returns the IO handle, used for file handles ("open" in
perlfunc), sockets ("socket" in perlfunc and "socketpair" in perlfunc),
and directory handles ("opendir" in perlfunc). For compatibility with
previous versions of Perl, *foo{FILEHANDLE} is a synonym for *foo{IO},
though it is discouraged, to encourage a consistent use of one name: IO.
On perls between v5.8 and v5.22, it will issue a deprecation warning, but
this deprecation has since been rescinded.
*foo{THING} returns undef if that particular THING hasn't been used yet,
except in the case of scalars. *foo{SCALAR} returns a reference to an
anonymous scalar if $foo hasn't been used yet. This might change in a
future release.
*foo{NAME} and *foo{PACKAGE} are the exception, in that they return
strings, rather than references. These return the package and name of
the typeglob itself, rather than one that has been assigned to it. So,
after "*foo=*Foo::bar", *foo will become "*Foo::bar" when used as a
string, but *foo{PACKAGE} and *foo{NAME} will continue to produce "main"
and "foo", respectively.
*foo{IO} is an alternative to the *HANDLE mechanism given in "Typeglobs
and Filehandles" in perldata for passing filehandles into or out of
subroutines, or storing into larger data structures. Its disadvantage is
that it won't create a new filehandle for you. Its advantage is that you
have less risk of clobbering more than you want to with a typeglob
assignment. (It still conflates file and directory handles, though.)
However, if you assign the incoming value to a scalar instead of a
typeglob as we do in the examples below, there's no risk of that
happening.
splutter(*STDOUT); # pass the whole glob
splutter(*STDOUT{IO}); # pass both file and dir handles
sub splutter {
my $fh = shift;
print $fh "her um well a hmmm\n";
}
$rec = get_rec(*STDIN); # pass the whole glob
$rec = get_rec(*STDIN{IO}); # pass both file and dir handles
sub get_rec {
my $fh = shift;
return scalar <$fh>;
}
UUssiinngg RReeffeerreenncceess That’s it for creating references. By now you’re probably dying to know how to use references to get back to your long-lost data. There are several basic methods.
_S_i_m_p_l_e _S_c_a_l_a_r
Anywhere you'd put an identifier (or chain of identifiers) as part of a
variable or subroutine name, you can replace the identifier with a simple
scalar variable containing a reference of the correct type:
$bar = $$scalarref;
push(@$arrayref, $filename);
$$arrayref[0] = "January";
$$hashref{"KEY"} = "VALUE";
&$coderef(1,2,3);
print $globref "output\n";
It's important to understand that we are specifically _n_o_t dereferencing
$arrayref[0] or $hashref{"KEY"} there. The dereference of the scalar
variable happens _b_e_f_o_r_e it does any key lookups. Anything more
complicated than a simple scalar variable must use methods 2 or 3 below.
However, a "simple scalar" includes an identifier that itself uses method
1 recursively. Therefore, the following prints "howdy".
$refrefref = \\\"howdy";
print $$$$refrefref;
_B_l_o_c_k
Anywhere you'd put an identifier (or chain of identifiers) as part of a
variable or subroutine name, you can replace the identifier with a BLOCK
returning a reference of the correct type. In other words, the previous
examples could be written like this:
$bar = ${$scalarref};
push(@{$arrayref}, $filename);
${$arrayref}[0] = "January";
${$hashref}{"KEY"} = "VALUE";
&{$coderef}(1,2,3);
$globref->print("output\n"); # iff IO::Handle is loaded
Admittedly, it's a little silly to use the curlies in this case, but the
BLOCK can contain any arbitrary expression, in particular, subscripted
expressions:
&{ $dispatch{$index} }(1,2,3); # call correct routine
Because of being able to omit the curlies for the simple case of $$x,
people often make the mistake of viewing the dereferencing symbols as
proper operators, and wonder about their precedence. If they were,
though, you could use parentheses instead of braces. That's not the
case. Consider the difference below; case 0 is a short-hand version of
case 1, _n_o_t case 2:
$$hashref{"KEY"} = "VALUE"; # CASE 0
${$hashref}{"KEY"} = "VALUE"; # CASE 1
${$hashref{"KEY"}} = "VALUE"; # CASE 2
${$hashref->{"KEY"}} = "VALUE"; # CASE 3
Case 2 is also deceptive in that you're accessing a variable called
%hashref, not dereferencing through $hashref to the hash it's presumably
referencing. That would be case 3.
_A_r_r_o_w _N_o_t_a_t_i_o_n
Subroutine calls and lookups of individual array elements arise often
enough that it gets cumbersome to use method 2. As a form of syntactic
sugar, the examples for method 2 may be written:
$arrayref->[0] = "January"; # Array element
$hashref->{"KEY"} = "VALUE"; # Hash element
$coderef->(1,2,3); # Subroutine call
The left side of the arrow can be any expression returning a reference,
including a previous dereference. Note that $array[$x] is _n_o_t the same
thing as "$array->[$x]" here:
$array[$x]->{"foo"}->[0] = "January";
This is one of the cases we mentioned earlier in which references could
spring into existence when in an lvalue context. Before this statement,
$array[$x] may have been undefined. If so, it's automatically defined
with a hash reference so that we can look up "{"foo"}" in it. Likewise
"$array[$x]->{"foo"}" will automatically get defined with an array
reference so that we can look up "[0]" in it. This process is called
_a_u_t_o_v_i_v_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n.
One more thing here. The arrow is optional _b_e_t_w_e_e_n brackets subscripts,
so you can shrink the above down to
$array[$x]{"foo"}[0] = "January";
Which, in the degenerate case of using only ordinary arrays, gives you
multidimensional arrays just like C's:
$score[$x][$y][$z] += 42;
Well, okay, not entirely like C's arrays, actually. C doesn't know how
to grow its arrays on demand. Perl does.
_O_b_j_e_c_t_s
If a reference happens to be a reference to an object, then there are
probably methods to access the things referred to, and you should
probably stick to those methods unless you're in the class package that
defines the object's methods. In other words, be nice, and don't violate
the object's encapsulation without a very good reason. Perl does not
enforce encapsulation. We are not totalitarians here. We do expect some
basic civility though.
_M_i_s_c_e_l_l_a_n_e_o_u_s _U_s_a_g_e
Using a string or number as a reference produces a symbolic reference, as
explained above. Using a reference as a number produces an integer
representing its storage location in memory. The only useful thing to be
done with this is to compare two references numerically to see whether
they refer to the same location.
if ($ref1 == $ref2) { # cheap numeric compare of references
print "refs 1 and 2 refer to the same thing\n";
}
Using a reference as a string produces both its referent's type,
including any package blessing as described in perlobj, as well as the
numeric address expressed in hex. The rreeff(()) operator returns just the
type of thing the reference is pointing to, without the address. See
"ref" in perlfunc for details and examples of its use.
The bblleessss(()) operator may be used to associate the object a reference
points to with a package functioning as an object class. See perlobj.
A typeglob may be dereferenced the same way a reference can, because the
dereference syntax always indicates the type of reference desired. So
"${*foo}" and "${\$foo}" both indicate the same scalar variable.
Here's a trick for interpolating a subroutine call into a string:
print "My sub returned @{[mysub(1,2,3)]} that time.\n";
The way it works is that when the "@{...}" is seen in the double-quoted
string, it's evaluated as a block. The block creates a reference to an
anonymous array containing the results of the call to "mysub(1,2,3)". So
the whole block returns a reference to an array, which is then
dereferenced by "@{...}" and stuck into the double-quoted string. This
chicanery is also useful for arbitrary expressions:
print "That yields @{[$n + 5]} widgets\n";
Similarly, an expression that returns a reference to a scalar can be
dereferenced via "${...}". Thus, the above expression may be written as:
print "That yields ${\($n + 5)} widgets\n";
CCiirrccuullaarr RReeffeerreenncceess It is possible to create a “circular reference” in Perl, which can lead to memory leaks. A circular reference occurs when two references contain a reference to each other, like this:
my $foo = {};
my $bar = { foo => $foo };
$foo->{bar} = $bar;
You can also create a circular reference with a single variable:
my $foo;
$foo = \$foo;
In this case, the reference count for the variables will never reach 0,
and the references will never be garbage-collected. This can lead to
memory leaks.
Because objects in Perl are implemented as references, it's possible to
have circular references with objects as well. Imagine a TreeNode class
where each node references its parent and child nodes. Any node with a
parent will be part of a circular reference.
You can break circular references by creating a "weak reference". A weak
reference does not increment the reference count for a variable, which
means that the object can go out of scope and be destroyed. You can
weaken a reference with the "weaken" function exported by the
Scalar::Util module, or available as "builtin::weaken" directly in Perl
version 5.35.7 or later.
Here's how we can make the first example safer:
use Scalar::Util 'weaken';
my $foo = {};
my $bar = { foo => $foo };
$foo->{bar} = $bar;
weaken $foo->{bar};
The reference from $foo to $bar has been weakened. When the $bar variable
goes out of scope, it will be garbage-collected. The next time you look
at the value of the "$foo->{bar}" key, it will be "undef".
This action at a distance can be confusing, so you should be careful with
your use of weaken. You should weaken the reference in the variable that
will go out of scope _f_i_r_s_t. That way, the longer-lived variable will
contain the expected reference until it goes out of scope.
SSyymmbboolliicc rreeffeerreenncceess We said that references spring into existence as necessary if they are undefined, but we didn’t say what happens if a value used as a reference is already defined, but _i_s_n_’_t a hard reference. If you use it as a reference, it’ll be treated as a symbolic reference. That is, the value of the scalar is taken to be the _n_a_m_e of a variable, rather than a direct link to a (possibly) anonymous value.
People frequently expect it to work like this. So it does.
$name = "foo";
$$name = 1; # Sets $foo
${$name} = 2; # Sets $foo
${$name x 2} = 3; # Sets $foofoo
$name->[0] = 4; # Sets $foo[0]
@$name = (); # Clears @foo
&$name(); # Calls &foo()
$pack = "THAT";
${"${pack}::$name"} = 5; # Sets $THAT::foo without eval
This is powerful, and slightly dangerous, in that it's possible to intend
(with the utmost sincerity) to use a hard reference, and accidentally use
a symbolic reference instead. To protect against that, you can say
use strict 'refs';
and then only hard references will be allowed for the rest of the
enclosing block. An inner block may countermand that with
no strict 'refs';
Only package variables (globals, even if localized) are visible to
symbolic references. Lexical variables (declared with mmyy(())) aren't in a
symbol table, and thus are invisible to this mechanism. For example:
local $value = 10;
$ref = "value";
{
my $value = 20;
print $$ref;
}
This will still print 10, not 20. Remember that llooccaall(()) affects package
variables, which are all "global" to the package.
NNoott--ssoo--ssyymmbboolliicc rreeffeerreenncceess Brackets around a symbolic reference can simply serve to isolate an identifier or variable name from the rest of an expression, just as they always have within a string. For example,
$push = "pop on ";
print "${push}over";
has always meant to print "pop on over", even though push is a reserved
word. This is generalized to work the same without the enclosing double
quotes, so that
print ${push} . "over";
and even
print ${ push } . "over";
will have the same effect. This construct is _n_o_t considered to be a
symbolic reference when you're using strict refs:
use strict 'refs';
${ bareword }; # Okay, means $bareword.
${ "bareword" }; # Error, symbolic reference.
Similarly, because of all the subscripting that is done using single
words, the same rule applies to any bareword that is used for
subscripting a hash. So now, instead of writing
$hash{ "aaa" }{ "bbb" }{ "ccc" }
you can write just
$hash{ aaa }{ bbb }{ ccc }
and not worry about whether the subscripts are reserved words. In the
rare event that you do wish to do something like
$hash{ shift }
you can force interpretation as a reserved word by adding anything that
makes it more than a bareword:
$hash{ shift() }
$hash{ +shift }
$hash{ shift @_ }
The "use warnings" pragma or the --ww switch will warn you if it interprets
a reserved word as a string. But it will no longer warn you about using
lowercase words, because the string is effectively quoted.
PPsseeuuddoo--hhaasshheess:: UUssiinngg aann aarrrraayy aass aa hhaasshh Pseudo-hashes have been removed from Perl. The ‘fields’ pragma remains available.
FFuunnccttiioonn TTeemmppllaatteess As explained above, an anonymous function with access to the lexical variables visible when that function was compiled, creates a closure. It retains access to those variables even though it doesn’t get run until later, such as in a signal handler or a Tk callback.
Using a closure as a function template allows us to generate many
functions that act similarly. Suppose you wanted functions named after
the colors that generated HTML font changes for the various colors:
print "Be ", red("careful"), "with that ", green("light");
The rreedd(()) and ggrreeeenn(()) functions would be similar. To create these, we'll
assign a closure to a typeglob of the name of the function we're trying
to build.
@colors = qw(red blue green yellow orange purple violet);
for my $name (@colors) {
no strict 'refs'; # allow symbol table manipulation
*$name = *{uc $name} = sub { "<FONT COLOR='$name'>@_</FONT>" };
}
Now all those different functions appear to exist independently. You can
call rreedd(()), RREEDD(()), bblluuee(()), BBLLUUEE(()), ggrreeeenn(()), etc. This technique saves on
both compile time and memory use, and is less error-prone as well, since
syntax checks happen at compile time. It's critical that any variables
in the anonymous subroutine be lexicals in order to create a proper
closure. That's the reasons for the "my" on the loop iteration variable.
This is one of the only places where giving a prototype to a closure
makes much sense. If you wanted to impose scalar context on the
arguments of these functions (probably not a wise idea for this
particular example), you could have written it this way instead:
*$name = sub ($) { "<FONT COLOR='$name'>$_[0]</FONT>" };
However, since prototype checking happens at compile time, the assignment
above happens too late to be of much use. You could address this by
putting the whole loop of assignments within a BEGIN block, forcing it to
occur during compilation.
Access to lexicals that change over time--like those in the "for" loop
above, basically aliases to elements from the surrounding lexical
scopes-- only works with anonymous subs, not with named subroutines.
Generally said, named subroutines do not nest properly and should only be
declared in the main package scope.
This is because named subroutines are created at compile time so their
lexical variables get assigned to the parent lexicals from the first
execution of the parent block. If a parent scope is entered a second
time, its lexicals are created again, while the nested subs still
reference the old ones.
Anonymous subroutines get to capture each time you execute the "sub"
operator, as they are created on the fly. If you are accustomed to using
nested subroutines in other programming languages with their own private
variables, you'll have to work at it a bit in Perl. The intuitive coding
of this type of thing incurs mysterious warnings about "will not stay
shared" due to the reasons explained above. For example, this won't
work:
sub outer {
my $x = $_[0] + 35;
sub inner { return $x * 19 } # WRONG
return $x + inner();
}
A work-around is the following:
sub outer {
my $x = $_[0] + 35;
local *inner = sub { return $x * 19 };
return $x + inner();
}
Now iinnnneerr(()) can only be called from within oouutteerr(()), because of the
temporary assignments of the anonymous subroutine. But when it does, it
has normal access to the lexical variable $x from the scope of oouutteerr(()) at
the time outer is invoked.
This has the interesting effect of creating a function local to another
function, something not normally supported in Perl.
PPoossttffiixx DDeerreeffeerreennccee SSyynnttaaxx Beginning in v5.20.0, a postfix syntax for using references is available. It behaves as described in “Using References”, but instead of a prefixed sigil, a postfixed sigil-and-star is used.
For example:
$r = \@a;
@b = $r->@*; # equivalent to @$r or @{ $r }
$r = [ 1, [ 2, 3 ], 4 ];
$r->[1]->@*; # equivalent to @{ $r->[1] }
In Perl 5.20 and 5.22, this syntax must be enabled with "use feature
'postderef'". As of Perl 5.24, no feature declarations are required to
make it available.
Postfix dereference should work in all circumstances where block
(circumfix) dereference worked, and should be entirely equivalent. This
syntax allows dereferencing to be written and read entirely left-to-
right. The following equivalencies are defined:
$sref->$*; # same as ${ $sref }
$aref->@*; # same as @{ $aref }
$aref->$#*; # same as $#{ $aref }
$href->%*; # same as %{ $href }
$cref->&*; # same as &{ $cref }
$gref->**; # same as *{ $gref }
Note especially that "$cref->&*" is _n_o_t equivalent to "$cref->()", and
can serve different purposes.
Glob elements can be extracted through the postfix dereferencing feature:
$gref->*{SCALAR}; # same as *{ $gref }{SCALAR}
Postfix array and scalar dereferencing _c_a_n be used in interpolating
strings (double quotes or the "qq" operator), but only if the
"postderef_qq" feature is enabled.
PPoossttffiixx RReeffeerreennccee SSlliicciinngg Value slices of arrays and hashes may also be taken with postfix dereferencing notation, with the following equivalencies:
$aref->@[ ... ]; # same as @$aref[ ... ]
$href->@{ ... }; # same as @$href{ ... }
Postfix key/value pair slicing, added in 5.20.0 and documented in the
Key/Value Hash Slices section of perldata, also behaves as expected:
$aref->%[ ... ]; # same as %$aref[ ... ]
$href->%{ ... }; # same as %$href{ ... }
As with postfix array, postfix value slice dereferencing _c_a_n be used in
interpolating strings (double quotes or the "qq" operator), but only if
the "postderef_qq" feature is enabled.
AAssssiiggnniinngg ttoo RReeffeerreenncceess Beginning in v5.22.0, the referencing operator can be assigned to. It performs an aliasing operation, so that the variable name referenced on the left-hand side becomes an alias for the thing referenced on the right-hand side:
\$a = \$b; # $a and $b now point to the same scalar
\&foo = \&bar; # foo() now means bar()
This syntax must be enabled with "use feature 'refaliasing'". It is
experimental, and will warn by default unless "no warnings
'experimental::refaliasing'" is in effect.
These forms may be assigned to, and cause the right-hand side to be
evaluated in scalar context:
\$scalar
\@array
\%hash
\&sub
\my $scalar
\my @array
\my %hash
\state $scalar # or @array, etc.
\our $scalar # etc.
\local $scalar # etc.
\local our $scalar # etc.
\$some_array[$index]
\$some_hash{$key}
\local $some_array[$index]
\local $some_hash{$key}
condition ? \$this : \$that[0] # etc.
Slicing operations and parentheses cause the right-hand side to be
evaluated in list context:
\@array[5..7]
(\@array[5..7])
\(@array[5..7])
\@hash{'foo','bar'}
(\@hash{'foo','bar'})
\(@hash{'foo','bar'})
(\$scalar)
\($scalar)
\(my $scalar)
\my($scalar)
(\@array)
(\%hash)
(\&sub)
\(&sub)
\($foo, @bar, %baz)
(\$foo, \@bar, \%baz)
Each element on the right-hand side must be a reference to a datum of the
right type. Parentheses immediately surrounding an array (and possibly
also "my"/"state"/"our"/"local") will make each element of the array an
alias to the corresponding scalar referenced on the right-hand side:
\(@a) = \(@b); # @a and @b now have the same elements
\my(@a) = \(@b); # likewise
\(my @a) = \(@b); # likewise
push @a, 3; # but now @a has an extra element that @b lacks
\(@a) = (\$a, \$b, \$c); # @a now contains $a, $b, and $c
Combining that form with "local" and putting parentheses immediately
around a hash are forbidden (because it is not clear what they should
do):
\local(@array) = foo(); # WRONG
\(%hash) = bar(); # WRONG
Assignment to references and non-references may be combined in lists and
conditional ternary expressions, as long as the values on the right-hand
side are the right type for each element on the left, though this may
make for obfuscated code:
(my $tom, \my $dick, \my @harry) = (\1, \2, [1..3]);
# $tom is now \1
# $dick is now 2 (read-only)
# @harry is (1,2,3)
my $type = ref $thingy;
($type ? $type eq 'ARRAY' ? \@foo : \$bar : $baz) = $thingy;
The "foreach" loop can also take a reference constructor for its loop
variable, though the syntax is limited to one of the following, with an
optional "my", "state", or "our" after the backslash:
\$s
\@a
\%h
\&c
No parentheses are permitted. This feature is particularly useful for
arrays-of-arrays, or arrays-of-hashes:
foreach \my @a (@array_of_arrays) {
frobnicate($a[0], $a[-1]);
}
foreach \my %h (@array_of_hashes) {
$h{gelastic}++ if $h{type} eq 'funny';
}
CCAAVVEEAATT:: Aliasing does not work correctly with closures. If you try to
alias lexical variables from an inner subroutine or "eval", the aliasing
will only be visible within that inner sub, and will not affect the outer
subroutine where the variables are declared. This bizarre behavior is
subject to change.
DDeeccllaarriinngg aa RReeffeerreennccee ttoo aa VVaarriiaabbllee Beginning in v5.26.0, the referencing operator can come after “my”, “state”, “our”, or “local”. This syntax must be enabled with “use feature ‘declared_refs’”. It is experimental, and will warn by default unless “no warnings ’experimental::refaliasing’” is in effect.
This feature makes these:
my \$x;
our \$y;
equivalent to:
\my $x;
\our $x;
It is intended mainly for use in assignments to references (see
"Assigning to References", above). It also allows the backslash to be
used on just some items in a list of declared variables:
my ($foo, \@bar, \%baz); # equivalent to: my $foo, \my(@bar, %baz);
WWAARRNNIINNGG:: DDoonn’’tt uussee rreeffeerreenncceess aass hhaasshh kkeeyyss You may not (usefully) use a reference as the key to a hash. It will be converted into a string:
$x{ \$a } = $a;
If you try to dereference the key, it won't do a hard dereference, and
you won't accomplish what you're attempting. You might want to do
something more like
$r = \@a;
$x{ $r } = $r;
And then at least you can use the vvaalluueess(()), which will be real refs,
instead of the kkeeyyss(()), which won't.
The standard Tie::RefHash module provides a convenient workaround to
this.
SSEEEE AALLSSOO #
Besides the obvious documents, source code can be instructive. Some
pathological examples of the use of references can be found in the
_t_/_o_p_/_r_e_f_._t regression test in the Perl source directory.
See also perldsc and perllol for how to use references to create complex
data structures, and perlootut and perlobj for how to use them to create
objects.
perl v5.36.3 2023-02-15 PERLREF(1)