That point is moot, since the array is lexically scoped (created via my()). So a reference to it would keep it around after it goes out of scope, so modifying it doesn't really pose a problem.

Incidentally, there's a bit of optimization to be made in the program: 
sub processfile {
  my ($file, $list) = @_;
  my $script = "/export/home/limo/Perl/exfields.pl -e";
  my %hash;

  # no need for @list

  for my $arg (split /,/ => $list) {
    open(FILE, "$script $arg $file |") or die "System error: $!\n";
    while (<FILE>) { 
      # did you mean /^(#|none|unkno)/ ?
      next if /^#|none|unkno/i;
      chomp;     
      $hash{$arg} = [split];
      # or, if there'll be another $arg of the same value..
      # push @{ $hash{$arg} }, split;
    }
    close FILE;
  }
  # consider return a REFERENCE to the hash...
  # it might be more memory-effective
  return %hash;
}

[download]
If more description is needed than the comments provide, let me know.

$_="goto+F.print+chop;\n=yhpaj";F1:eval

In reply to RE: RE: RE: Making a Hash of Arrays by japhy
in thread Making a Hash of Arrays by Limo

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