I agree with tobyink, except that recreating the arrays when entering the second routine is not really optimal: 

sub secondRoutine {
    my @array1 = @{ shift(@_) };
    my @array2 = @{ shift(@_) };
    my @array3 = @{ shift(@_) };

    print ("Test first value in array1: $array1[0]");
    print ("Test third value in array2: $array2[2]");
    print ("Test fifth value in array3: $array3[4]");
}

[download]

I would usually prefer something like this: 

<c>sub secondRoutine {
    my ($array1_ref, $array2_ref, $array3_ref) = @_;

    print ("Test first value in array1: $$array1_ref[0]");
    print ("Test third value in array2: $$array2_ref[2]");
    print ("Test fifth value in array3: $$array3_ref[4]");
}

[download]

This is matter open to discussion. Sometimes, I also create intermediary arrays from arrayrefs or hashref to make sure that I am really understanding my complicated data structure, but, here, it seems quite simple, no point of using memory to copy data structures.

Update: fixed the copy-and-paste error seen by Monk::Thomas.

In reply to Re^2: Array of arrays by Laurent_R
in thread Array of arrays by SuzuBell

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.