⭐ in reply to How do I determine the type of a reference?

The Scalar::Util module provides a function reftype for this. It's somewhat more robust than the built-in ref function. 

use Scalar::Util 'reftype';

my $reftype = reftype $x;

if ( !defined $reftype ) {
    print "\$x is not a reference.\n";
}
elsif ( $reftype eq 'HASH' ) {
    # do something with %$x
}
elsif ( $reftype eq 'ARRAY' ) {
    # do something with @$x
}
elsif ( $reftype eq 'SCALAR' ) {
    # do something with $$x
}
else {
    # do something else
}
# ...

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Re: Answer: How do I tell what type of structure a given reference points to?
by asarih (Hermit) on Sep 18, 2003 at 17:42 UTC
    Note that Scalar::Util::reftype behaves almost like the built-in ref, except when an object is passed. 
    use Scalar::Util 'reftype';
$a=\$b;
print reftype($a),"\n"; #SCALAR
print ref($a),"\n";     #SCALAR
bless $a, "BOGUS";
print reftype($a),"\n"; #SCALAR
print ref($a),"\n";     #BOGUS

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[d/l]
      And that is exactly why I chose to use it!
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