# perlref(1) - man - phpman

[PERLREF(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PERLREF/1/markdown)                        Perl Programmers Reference Guide                        [PERLREF(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PERLREF/1/markdown)



## NAME
       perlref - Perl references and nested data structures

## NOTE
       This is complete documentation about all aspects of references.  For a shorter, tutorial
       introduction to just the essential features, see perlreftut.

## DESCRIPTION
       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.

### Making References
       References can be created in several ways.

       _Backslash_ _Operator_

       By using the backslash operator on a variable, subroutine, or value.  (This works much like
       the & (address-of) operator in C.)  This typically creates _another_ 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.

       _Square_ _Brackets_

       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).

       _Curly_ _Brackets_

       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 **local()** or **my()**) 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.

       _Anonymous_ _Subroutines_

       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 _same_ anonymous subroutine.)

       Anonymous subroutines act as closures with respect to **my()** 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 **eval()**.
       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 **newprint()** _despite_ "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.

       _Constructors_

       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
       _can_ 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](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Term%3A%3ACap/markdown);
           $terminal = [Term::Cap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Term%3A%3ACap/markdown)->Tgetent( { OSPEED => 9600 });

           use Tk;
           $main    = MainWindow->new();
           $menubar = $main->Frame(-relief              => "raised",
                                   -borderwidth         => 2)

       _Autovivification_

       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.

       _Typeglob_ _Slots_

       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](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Foo%3A%3Abar/markdown)", *foo will become "*[Foo::bar](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Foo%3A%3Abar/markdown)" 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>;
           }

### Using References
       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.

       _Simple_ _Scalar_

       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 _not_ dereferencing $arrayref[0] or
       $hashref{"KEY"} there.  The dereference of the scalar variable happens _before_ 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;

       _Block_

       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](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AHandle/markdown) 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, _not_ 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.

       _Arrow_ _Notation_

       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 _not_ 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 _autovivification_.

       One more thing here.  The arrow is optional _between_ 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.

       _Objects_

       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.

       _Miscellaneous_ _Usage_

       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 **ref()**
       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 **bless()** 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";

### Circular References
       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](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Scalar%3A%3AUtil/markdown) module.

       Here's how we can make the first example safer:

           use [Scalar::Util](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Scalar%3A%3AUtil/markdown) '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 _first_. That way,
       the longer-lived variable will contain the expected reference until it goes out of scope.

### Symbolic references
       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 _isn'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 _name_ 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](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/THAT%3A%3Afoo/markdown) 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 **my()**) 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 **local()** affects package variables, which are
       all "global" to the package.

### Not-so-symbolic references
       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 _not_ 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 **-w** 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.

### Pseudo-hashes: Using an array as a hash
       Pseudo-hashes have been removed from Perl.  The 'fields' pragma remains available.

### Function Templates
       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 **red()** and **green()** 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 **red()**, **RED()**,
       **blue()**, **BLUE()**, **green()**, 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 **inner()** can only be called from within **outer()**, 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 **outer()** 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.

### Postfix Dereference Syntax
       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 "$cref->&*" is _not_ equivalent to "$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 _can_ be used in interpolating strings (double quotes or
       the "qq" operator), but only if the "postderef_qq" feature is enabled.

### Postfix Reference Slicing
       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 _can_ be used in interpolating strings
       (double quotes or the "qq" operator), but only if the "postderef_qq" feature is enabled.

### Assigning to References
       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](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/experimental%3A%3Arefaliasing/markdown)'" 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';
           }

       **CAVEAT:** 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.

### Declaring a Reference to a Variable
       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](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/experimental%3A%3Arefaliasing/markdown)'" 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);

### WARNING: Don't use references as hash keys
       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 **values()**, which will be real refs, instead of the **keys()**,
       which won't.

       The standard [Tie::RefHash](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Tie%3A%3ARefHash/markdown) module provides a convenient workaround to this.

## SEE ALSO
       Besides the obvious documents, source code can be instructive.  Some pathological examples of
       the use of references can be found in the _t/op/ref.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 v5.34.0                                 2025-07-25                                   [PERLREF(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PERLREF/1/markdown)