I have been reading through some intermediate level code and I have come accross variables or references that have an asterix in front of them. I am trying to determine the significance of this asterix. Is it a pointer...???

Here are just a few examples of how I have seen them used: 

  local(*dbline) = $main::{'_<' . $fname};
  local(*F);
  *GUI:: = \%Win32::GUI::;

[download]
I have tried to do searches on "*" but as you can imagine it is a hard thing to search on.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can clue me in on this.

update (broquaint): added <code> tags

In reply to What does the "*" means when placed infront of a variable or reference? by Anonymous Monk

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.