mavericknik has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello monks, So here is my question: I have an array of names, say 
my @names = qw(adam jake john betty);

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And for each name, I have a corresponding array, 
my @adambooks;
my @jakebooks;
.
.
.

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Now I'm trying to do: 
foreach (@names) {
    my $cur_name = $_;
    &modify($cur_name, "Their correspinding array")
}

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What is the easiest way to get the value of "Their corresponding array"?? I expect the answer is simple buy I'm pretty new to perl and cant for the life of me figure it out. Any pointers are greatly appreciated!

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Derive a variable name from a variable?
by GrandFather (Saint) on Dec 17, 2015 at 06:41 UTC

    Use a hash instead:

    #!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

my %booksByBorrower = (
    adam => {"Learning Perl" => {borrowed => '2015-12-17'}},
    jake => {"Programming Perl" => {borrowed => '2015-12-08'}},
    john => {"Programming Perl" => {borrowed => '2015-12-12'}},
    betty => {"High Order Perl" => {borrowed => '2015-12-10'}},
);

for my $name (sort keys %booksByBorrower) {
    print "$name\n";
    
    for my $book (sort keys %{$booksByBorrower{$name}}) {
        print "  Borrowed $book $booksByBorrower{$name}{$book}{borrowe
+d}\n";
    }
}

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    Prints:

    adam
  Borrowed Learning Perl 2015-12-17
betty
  Borrowed High Order Perl 2015-12-10
jake
  Borrowed Programming Perl 2015-12-08
john
  Borrowed Programming Perl 2015-12-12

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    Of course for this sort of task you should really be using a database, but that's a little heavy for such a trivial example.

    Premature optimization is the root of all job security
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[d/l]
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      Thank you for the pointers, I used an array reference as the hash value to solve the problem. Yes, I need to look into a better way of doing this. This is an oversimplified example I used to explain my problem, the actual size of the code is pretty big.
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Re: Derive a variable name from a variable?
by Laurent_R (Canon) on Dec 17, 2015 at 07:18 UTC
    Don't write Perl code that computes variable names. It can be done (it is called symbolic references), but it is bad practice, it is frowned upon for several good reasons, and it is bad enough that it will trigger a warning.

    Use a hash instead.

    Update: Just as you can shoot a bullet into your own foot or put your cat into the microwave oven, but you should not do it.

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Re: Derive a variable name from a variable?
by Anonymous Monk on Dec 17, 2015 at 04:46 UTC
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Re: Derive a variable name from a variable?
by Lennotoecom (Pilgrim) on Dec 17, 2015 at 06:47 UTC
    there is another way,
    but that is a path to the dark side of the force
    @names = qw/adam jake john betty/;
@adambooks = qw/ad_1 ad_2/;
@jakebooks = qw/ja_1 ja_2/;

for $n (@names){
print "$n:\n";
        print "\t@{$_}\n" for $n."books";    
}

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    there might be some jedi,
    who'd tell you that it's wrong
    they just want you to obey their will
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[d/l]
      This is only half the answer because using strict is a standard nowadays.

      There might be cases where this is needed, but please apply no strict "refs" in a restricted block around it and use strict; in file scope.

      see for instance no strict refs for blocks?

      > there might be some jedi,

      > who'd tell you that it's wrong

      > they just want you to obey their will

      Perl has no taboos, just best practices.

      Cheers Rolf
      (addicted to the Perl Programming Language and ☆☆☆☆ :)
      Je suis Charlie!

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      Haha I would've been seduced by the dark side if it weren't for the wisdom of the monks here!
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        ^_^
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