#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper qw(Dumper);

my @examples = ('perl', 'linux');
my $reference_of_example = \@examples; #referencing

print Dumper your_sub($reference_of_example); # prints $VAR1 = 1;

print Dumper my_sub($reference_of_example);

print Dumper my_solution($reference_of_example);

print Dumper haukex_solution($reference_of_example);

sub your_sub {
    my $ref = @_;
    return $ref;
}

sub my_sub {
    return @_;
}

sub my_solution {
    my $ref = shift @_;
    return $ref; # or return shift @_;
}

sub haukex_solution {
    my ($ref) = @_;
    return $ref;
}

__END__

$ perl test.pl
$VAR1 = 1;
$VAR1 = [
          'perl',
          'linux'
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          'perl',
          'linux'
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          'perl',
          'linux'
        ];