Is there a way to avoid this multi step operation when I have multiple return values of a sub?

Yes:

sub fillArrays {
    my( $r1, $r2 ) = @_;
    my @$r1 = qw(one two three);
    my @$r2 = qw(four five six seven);
    return;
}

my (@arr1,@arr2);
fillArrays( \@arr1, \@arr2 );

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In reply to Re^4: More efficient dereferencing of a subroutine return by BrowserUk
in thread More efficient dereferencing of a subroutine return by gg48gg

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