How's this for a totally offtopic response? The snippet of code you show screams "use objects" to me. Really really loudly.

I mean, you have a "Character" that has_some "Classes" and has 'experience' and 'name' and all sorts of other attributes.

You have classes that have experience requirements and various saving throw and THAC0 values by level.

In short, you have big nested data structures with associated behaviors. Using OOP design will help corral the various related stuff into smaller, easier to swallow chunks.

OK, on to the answer to your problems. You have several file scoped lexicals @classes, @THAC0 among them. You push data into them and never clear it out. So if you call print_classes() multiple times, you will keep extending the @classes array forever.

In general, keep all variables in the tightest possible scope and be very wary of global variables (and file scoped lexicals, which are almost the same). For proof of this maxim, if you move the declaration of @classes into the print_classes() routine, your problem will vanish.

When you design a program, one thing you can do to keep things simple is to avoid side-effects in your functions. What this means is that for a given input, you get a given output every time, and nothing else about the program changes.That way, 6 months from now, when your code has become an indispensable tool, and you find a bug, you won't have to remember that foo() must be called before bar() but after whiz(), because they all interact with %whibble, and alter its value.

The OOP stuff helps with this. By tying behaviors to data in neat chunks it makes it easier to partition problems into models that work, while avoiding promiscuous data sharing that leads to spaghetti code.

This looks like a fun project. Happy hacking.

have also tried to undefine @clsses in the loop. However, like above, no success.

for my $name (keys %characters) {
  my $id = $name;
     $id =~ s! !_!g;
     $id =~ s![^-\w:.]!!g; 
  
  my $experience = $characters{$name}{experience};
  my @classes = @{$characters{$name}{classes}};
[download]

You are declaring @classes inside the loop. Therefore, every time through the loop, the @classes variable is destroyed. A new @classes variable is created each time through the loop and it is assigned a new value.

It's not clear to me why you want to 'undefine' @classes. Is it possible you are doing something like this:

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my @classes = ('A', 'B');

for (1 .. 3) {
    my @classes = ('C', 'D');
    say "@classes";
}

say "\n@classes";

--output:--
C D
C D
C D

A B
[download]

Anything you do to @classes inside the loop braces only affects the @classes variable that you declared inside the loop braces. Changes to the @classes variable inside the loop braces aren't going to affect the @classes variable declared outside the loop braces.

No, I think the OP is referring to @classes and %classes in the first file, "Classes.pm". In that package, @classes and %classes are being used as global shared state for the various functions. There, @classes and %classes need to be reset before each new call to class_data, or else the data from separate calls will commingle.

amedico, 7stud read correctly, I was trying to undefine @classes in the for loop too. :S

Have a nice day!
Lady Aleena

every time through the loop, the @classes variable is destroyed

I thought as much, so the problem is with Classes.pm somewhere. For some reason (%|@)classes is retaining data from previous loops. Every effort I have made to undefined both of those values has failed. I may need a whole new approach.

Have a nice day!
Lady Aleena

LA:

@classes and %classes are declared at the top lex level of the package, so they with not go out of scope until the program exits. When it is appropriate, within a routine in the package, you can:

...
@classes = ();
%classes = ();
...
[download]

to empty them.

Good luck. -c

use lib doesn't make any sense in a module.

Why not?  Would make sense, for example, if the module uses other modules from (other) non-standard library locations...

(I don't know where the modules reside in the OP's case, so I can't tell whether it makes sense here, though.)

FWIW, I think use lib is for programs

Actually, it can't since I am not using the standard module libraries for my really really site specific modules. I am storing them elsewhere. I have gone without the use lib line when using modules in the same directory, and I get all kinds of errors. There is no chance that I can get any provider to add that folder to the module library, as far as I know. And honestly, who would want them other than me?

Have a nice day!
Lady Aleena

The module in which you use use lib is in that non-standard location, right? So why do you say you need to tell Perl where to look.

You just need the use lib in the script. The use lib in the module is redundant.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use diagnostics;

foreach my $name (keys my %characters) {
    my $id = $name;
    $id =~ s/ /_/g;
    $id =~ s/[^-\w:.]//g; 
  
    my $experience = $characters{$name}{'experience'};
    my(@classes) = @{$characters{$name}{'classes'};};
  
    print qq[<h1 id="$id">$name</h1>\n];
    print "\t<p>" . print_classes($experience, @classes) . "</p>\n";
    print "\t<p>Experience: $experience</p>\n";
}
[download]

I am sorry to say that I can not see the difference other than you putting @classes in parentheses, but it may be that I am tired. Though on the same line there are two semi-colons, one before the closing bracket and one after. Did you want that semi-colon there?

Have a nice day!
Lady Aleena