return a reference to the result of a function

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

Is it possible to return a reference to the result of a function? For example:

$ref=\(split(//, "tempfoo"));
print $ref->[0], "\n"; # should print "t"
[download]

I'm asking because it doesn't work. Thanks for any pointers....

Comment on return a reference to the result of a function Download Code

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Re: return a reference to the result of a function by grantm (Parson) on Nov 22, 2002 at 18:48 UTC
No, but if you just want $ref to be a reference to an array of the values returned then try: `$ref = [ split(//, "tempfoo") ];` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: return a reference to the result of a function by particle (Vicar) on Nov 22, 2002 at 18:51 UTC
`$ref = [ split //, 'tempfoo' ]; print $ref->[0], $/; ## prints: t` [download] ~Particle accelerates	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: return a reference to the result of a function by dvergin (Monsignor) on Nov 22, 2002 at 23:48 UTC
Alternate approach: `my $aref; @$aref = split //, 'tempfoo'; print $aref->[0];` [download] ------------------------------------------------------------ "Perl is a mess and that's good because the problem space is also a mess." - Larry Wall	[reply] [d/l]