Devel::Peek has a function, SvREFCNT, that lets you find out the reference count of a scalar value or variable. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have any way of determining the reference count of a non-scalar variable.

The only way I have been able to think of to find the ref count for, say, an array variable would be to parse the output of Devel::Peek's Dump function. This seems to me, however, to be a Really Bad Idea.

Can anyone point me to a way to get the ref count without resorting to this kind of chicanery?

Example Code: 

#!/usr/bin/perl -l

use Devel::Peek qw( Dump SvREFCNT );

my $a = 1;
my $ra = \$a;
print SvREFCNT($a);   # prints 2
print SvREFCNT($ra);  # prints 1
print SvREFCNT($$ra); # prints 2

my @b = (1, 2);
my $rb = \@b;
Dump($rb);

[download]

Output (the information I seek is in blue): 

2
1
2
SV = RV(0x8103b88) at 0x80fd5c0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY,ROK)
  RV = 0x80fd5a8
  SV = PVAV(0x80f77bc) at 0x80fd5a8
    REFCNT = 2
    FLAGS = (PADBUSY,PADMY)
    IV = 0
    NV = 0
    ARRAY = 0x81226e8
    FILL = 0
    MAX = 3
    ARYLEN = 0x0
    FLAGS = (REAL)
    Elt No. 0
    SV = IV(0x80ff80c) at 0x80f62ac
      REFCNT = 1
      FLAGS = (IOK,pIOK)
      IV = 1

bbfu
Seasons don't fear The Reaper.
Nor do the wind, the sun, and the rain.
We can be like they are.

In reply to Reference Count of a Non-Scalar by bbfu

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