How about this: 
sub normalize_date
{
    my $date_proto = shift;

    my $stringified = "$date_proto";

    # Check to see if it's NOT a reference
    unless ($stringified =~ /\(0[Xx]\d+\)$/)
    {
        return split /\D+/, $date_proto;
    }

    # At this point, we know we have a reference of some sort ...

    # Let's see if it acts as an array ...
    if ( eval { @{$date_proto}; 1} } )
    {
        # We know we can treat $date_proto as an array
        return $date_proto;
    }

    # At this point, we don't know what to do with $date_proto.
    # (Well, the OP hasn't spec'ed it out ...)
}

[download]

The major update here is that it plays nicely with overload. For example, I might have: 

package Date::As::Hash;

use overload '""' => 'stringify';

# Some stuff here ...

sub stringify
{
    my $self = shift;

    "$self->{MONTH}/$self->{DAY}/$self->{YEAR}";
}

[download]

I wish HTML::Template would do something like this ...

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.

In reply to Re: Is "ref $date eq 'ARRAY'" wrong? by dragonchild
in thread Is "ref $date eq 'ARRAY'" wrong? by bronto

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