I believe this is your problem:

$command_action= $cl[0]{$cl[1]};

In strict, you can't use $cl[0] (contains 'log') as a hash ref (pointing to the %log hash).

As was mentioned before, you should consider using subroutine references instead of eval'ing. As for the problem with two-word commands, I'd suggest this: 


%command_list = (
       quit => \&end_program,
       greeting => \&greeting,
       time => \&systime,
       help => \&help,                        
       log => \&which_log   # this one is new
);

sub which_log {
  my $arg = shift;
  return start_logs() if ($arg eq "start");
  return stop_logs() if ($arg eq "stop");
  return log_status();  # default behavior
}

$command = <STDIN>; # assume $command="log start"
@cl = split / /,$command;
my $func = shift @cl;   # first CLI argument is hash key
if (defined($command_list{$func})) {
  $command_list{$func}->(@cl);   # passes rest of CLI args to handler
} else {
  print "invalid command\n";
}


This is untested code, but hopefully it does what I think. Whatever the command line entered, it'll take the first arg as the hashkey in %command_list and pass any extra arguments. So just make a simple wrapper for all your *log() subroutines that uses the argument to determine which to call. Hopefully this makes sense ;)

In reply to Re: Trying to simulate a CLI using hashes... by blokhead
in thread Trying to simulate a CLI using hashes... by thoth

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