#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

sub foo
{
    my ( $flags, $img, $name, $big, $gallery, $page, $caption, $num );
    my $opts = shift;
    if (ref $opts eq "HASH") {
        print "using hash...\n";
        no strict;
        for (qw( flags img name big gallery page caption num ) )  {
            $$_ = $opts->{$_};
            print "\tsetting $_ to $$_ ($opts->{$_})\n";
        }
        use strict;
    } else {
        print "using args...\n";
        $flags = $opts;
        # these vars are local for some reason... ???
        ( $img, $name, $big, $gallery, $page, $caption, $num ) = @_;
        print "flags = $flags, img = $img\n"; # they're getting set...
        # but their values are now going to vanish...
    }
    print "reviewing what's been set...\n";
    no strict;
    for (qw( flags img name big gallery page caption num ) )  {
        print "\t$_ = $$_\n";
    }
    use strict;
}

# it doesn't matter which order you call these functions...
foo( "hi", "apoinv", "slkjhfp", "876", "poi", "asdf", "sdf", "there" );

foo( {
    flags => "hi",
    img => "apoinv",
    name => "slkjhfp",
    big => "876",
    gallery => "poi",
    page => "asdf",
    caption => "sdf",
    num => "there" });