foreach my $line (@elements) {
  print "$$line<br/>"; # you sure that you don't want this after the s
+ubstitution?
  $$line=~s/'//g;
}
[download]

You can use map, I've set this up two ways, the @elements array uses the references the way you use them in your code. I call map to do the substition, at that point you can print it out however you like, I used Data::Dumper so you can see what the var structure looks like. In the second example @elems2 I did away with the references, with subtle changes to the map function(I do not dereference $_) BTW, $_ can be dropped at that point, but I wanted to keep it symmetrical with the other map. Notice how the first Data::Dumper output shows that the elements array contains references to the strings and the second contains the strings.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Data::Dumper;

$hall_name="Foo's Hall";
$contact_name="Prof Bar";
$contact_email="profbar\@fooshall.edu";
$contact_telephone="1'234'567'8901";

my @elements = (
        \$hall_name,
        \$contact_name,
        \$contact_email,
        \$contact_telephone
);

my @elems2 = (
        $hall_name,
        $contact_name,
        $contact_email,
        $contact_telephone
);

map { $$_ =~ s/'//g } @elements;
print Dumper(\@elements);

map { $_ =~ s/'//g } @elems2;
print Dumper(\@elems2);

__END__
#Output looks like:
$VAR1 = [
          \'Foos Hall',
          \'Prof Bar',
          \'profbar@fooshall.edu',
          \'12345678901'
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          'Foos Hall',
          'Prof Bar',
          'profbar@fooshall.edu',
          '12345678901'
        ];

# As you can see the first one contains the references, 
# And the second does not.
[download]

HTH

foreach my $line (@elements) {
  print "$$line<br/>";
  ...
}
[download]

The answers above seem spot on in explaining where the problem is in your code, so I won't repeat their solutions here. Might I suggest you try a different approach than storing scalar references in an array though. What you are describing here seems a perfect opportunity to use a hash structure instead of scalar vars and an array. Try something like this (untested) code instead:

my %elements = (
        hall_name     => $hall_name,
        contact_name  => $contact_name,
        contact_email => $contact_email,
        contact_tel   => $contact_tel,
);

while (my($key, $value) = each %elements) {
  print "$key -> $value<br />";
  $value =~ s/'//g;
}

- or -

foreach my $line (values %elements) {
...
}
[download]

By using a hash, you are keeping all your data in one structure making the code clearer, and it makes it easier to pass this information to other methods or subroutines.

The only real issue here is that hashes don't preserve order like arrays do, so if you require a specific order when printing these values you may need to look at alternative solutions (like Tie::IxHash). But since it looks like you are outputting HTML, you should really look at a templating system like HTML::Template or Template Toolkit which work well with hashes of data.

you can also use this idiom:

Do you realy need the array?

foreach my $line ($hall_name, $contact_name, $contact_email, $contact_
+telephone) {
  print "$line<br/>";
  $line=~s/'//g;
}
[download]

Jenda
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
   -- Rick Osborne

Edit by castaway: Closed small tag in signature

Lots of great ideas, thanks. I actually ended up using this one because it seemed the simpliest and worked ;-)

Cheers,
Tom.

my @element = (
   $hall_name, $contact_name,
   $contact_email, $contact_telephone
);

s/'//g for @element;
print map "$_<br/>", @element;
[download]

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)