Re^2: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array

Wouldn't using $VAR1->{"movie_results"}->[0] make it clearer that key/entry "movie_results" contains an array reference? $VAR1->{"movie_results"}[0] is confusing (to me). Why is it even allowed to work? It begs me to turn to a manual for clarification about what data types a Perl hash can contain. Sanity check: Perl Data Structures still hold only numbers, scalars and references. OK. Personally, I like to see this extra clarification (the ->) in my (and others) code. It makes reading and understanding (other's) code faster, albeit it seems like a sticking finger!!!.

bw, bliako

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Re^3: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array by LanX (Saint) on Dec 18, 2020 at 23:10 UTC
> Why is it even allowed to work? It's the same and documented so, after the first arrow the others are redundant `$VAR1->{"movie_results"}->[0]` exactly the same as `$VAR1->{"movie_results"}[0]` will update with links to perldocs ... UPDATE see perlreftut#Arrow-Rule "In between two subscripts, the arrow is optional." Cheers Rolf _{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :) Wikisyntax for the Monastery}	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array by bliako (Monsignor) on Dec 18, 2020 at 23:24 UTC
Quite right you are. But I feel that making the arrow optional between two subscripts is confusing if Perl still makes a distinction between a reference and the data structure it refers to. I guess the rule is simple: PDS (Perl Data Structure=hash,array) can not contain arrays but refs or scalars. So drop the arrow notation. Hmmmm that might be confusing for a new-comer as it may suggest that arrays (not arrayref) is allowed inside a PDS. That's a general Perl comment, not about what you wrote.	[reply]
Re^5: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array by LanX (Saint) on Dec 19, 2020 at 01:04 UTC
I think of an `@array` as just syntactic sugar for an `$a_ref = \@array.` They are not two different data types, just two sides of the same coin. Without `@sigil` and `%sigil` many context mechanics wouldn't work. Edit Concerning repeated arrows ... Perl is very special among other scripting languages in requiring explicit dereferencing. (this might be a C thing, I'm not sure) How would you explain to someone coming from JS, Python or Ruby that he not only needs one -> but a bunch full for every level? Cheers Rolf _{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :) Wikisyntax for the Monastery}	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^6: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array by LanX (Saint) on Dec 19, 2020 at 01:41 UTC
Re^5: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array by jo37 (Deacon) on Dec 19, 2020 at 14:09 UTC
Maybe the intention is to allow `$a[1][2][3]` instead of the clumsy `$a[1]->[2]->[3]`. Greetings, -jo `$gryYup$d0ylprbpriprrYpkJl2xyl~rzg??P~5lp2hyl0p$`	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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Re^2: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array

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