Ok, so I have an object, and one of the attributes is an array reference. I write an accessor method for that attribute that boths sets and gets the attribute. For setting, if I'm passed an arrayref, I just set it directly. If, however, I'm passed an array (of integers, hopefully), I want to set it as a reference to a copy of the original array.

So here's how I tried to do it: 

sub foo {     ### Shortened, assume we are passed something
    my $self = shift;
    ### some stuff
    $self->{bar} = ref( $_[0] ) ? $_[0] : \@_;
    ### a couple more things
}

[download]


Seems simple, right? But it doesn't work. $self->{handle} is set to what it should be, and maintains that value for the rest of the sunroutine. But as soon as the subroutine returns, $self->{handle} now points to an empty array!

Of course, this can be gotten around rather easily (It's understanding, not a solution, I'm looking for), but I'm concered that it reveals a deep misunderstanding about the use of references and subroutines. If anyone could explain why I get this behaviour, I would certainly be in their debt.

In reply to Wierdness with a reference to @_ by Disco Stu

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