in reply to Reference to a sub return / Config::General

Config::General was designed to take a text file, parse it, and return the results in a hash. You could patch the code to return a hash reference instead, but if your config file is gigantic in the first place, then maybe you are designing something wrong. Most config files i work with never make into the megabyte range (or even over 100K for that matter).

Regardless of whether you use: 

my $config = { Config::General->new('my.conf')->getall() };

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or 
my %config = Config::General->new('my.conf')->getall();
my $config = \%config;

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some copying will need to be performed. Don't worry about size unless you have to, and it sounds like you really don't.

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)

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Re: Re: Reference to a sub return / Config::General
by Oberon (Monk) on Jan 22, 2004 at 22:33 UTC
    > Don't worry about size unless you have to, and it sounds like you really don't.

    I know, I know: don't microoptimize. But it's the principle dammit! <s>

    No, I shan't worry about it. But I thought maybe there was some way around it that would teach me something new. <he said wistfully ...>

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      But I thought maybe there was some way around it

      If the subroutine returns a list instead of a hashref, there's not much you can do about it.

      Just for a little bit more explanation: when you say return %hash, the hash gets flattened into a plain ol' list. When you subsequently say my %hash = foo(), that shoehorns the list into a new hash. Again, there's nothing you can do about this without modifying the subroutine's return statement.

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        > when you say return %hash, the hash gets flattened into a plain ol' list. When you subsequently say my %hash = foo(), that shoehorns the list into a new hash.

        Ah, I hadn't thought of it that way. So I'm not only running into the difference between a value and a variable, but also the difference between a list and an array.

        Although, come to think of it, those are basically analogous ...

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