${path} is really just a different way of writing $path:

my $foo = "xyz";
print $foo."bar";   # prints "xyzbar"
print "${foo}bar";  # same

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As for making it more flexible: let's say you've got your "path" in an array @path, one way to walk your data structure is: $self = $self->{$_} for @path;

In reply to Re^5: Creating flexible method accessor by Anonymous Monk
in thread Creating flexible method accessor by puterboy

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