There are ways around that

use strict;
use warnings;

sub better_type {
    my $obj = shift;
    my $type = ref $obj;
    my $orgType =  $type;
    my @ref = qw[ SCALAR ARRAY HASH ] ; #CODE REF GLOB LVALUE ];

    if( grep { $_ eq $type } @ref ) {
        bless $obj, '__schwern';

        $type = $obj->isa('HASH')
                ? 'HASH'
                : $obj->isa('ARRAY')
                    ? 'ARRAY'
                    : $obj->isa('SCALAR')
                        ? 'SCALAR'
                        : undef;

        bless $obj, $orgType; # bless it back
    }

    return $type;
}


my @objs = (
    bless([],'ary'),
    bless({},'ash'),
    bless(sub{'blessed sub HASH'},'HASH'),
);

printf "%-30s => %s\n\n",
    $_ => better_type( $_ ) || 'Not HASH, ARRAY or SCALAR'
        for @objs;

__END__
ary=ARRAY(0x1abf0dc)           => ary

ash=HASH(0x1ab51b0)            => ash

HASH=CODE(0x1c0b164)           => Not HASH, ARRAY or SCALAR
[download]

But in this version you gotta lookout for read-only variables.

MJD says you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo! I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6x+5.8x. I take requests. ** The Third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.