Your result is returned as a reference to an array (which contains references to hashes - the whole is an AoH: Array of Hashes). You need an extra dereferencing step to get to the array itself. As LTjake says above, to get the length of the referenced array, do something like: 
my $length=scalar @$config;

[download]
$config contains a reference to an array, which you can access by dereferencing it: prefix it with an @ symbol. @$config or @{$config} literally means: the array referenced by $config. If $config refered to a hash, you'd use %$config to get it.

Have a look at perlref for more information on references in Perl (which are somewhat like pointers in C, but then again, are not).

CU
Robartes-

In reply to Re: Counting Elements output from Data::Dumper by robartes
in thread Counting Elements output from Data::Dumper by vbrtrmn

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.