Two obvious problems (there may be others):

• @_ is the array of arguments passed into the subroutine, so \@_ will always be an array reference. You need ref($_[0]) which tests the first argument (but see my answer above as to why this may not be the best approach).

• If the array is passed in as a reference, $type_of_arg will be the string 'ARRAY', indicating an array reference. If the array is passed in as a list (and if the first element of that list doesn’t happen to be a reference), $type_of_arg will be the empty string, not 'REF'. Again, see ref.

Hope that helps,

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