I think you were looking for Devel::Pointer. You'd have to find a way to manage the referent's reference count (B allows you to fiddle with it directly). If I were going to extend your module to use references I'd go this route - store the reference using the normal means and revivify it on demand.

Seeking Green geeks in Minnesota

In reply to Re^4: A memory efficient hash, trading off speed - does it already exist? by diotalevi
in thread A memory efficient hash, trading off speed - does it already exist? by JPaul

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