this is a style question, i guess. I'd love to know of better ways to do the following: 
$a = 'text';

$b = $a ? $a : '';
$c = $a->{KEY} ? \$a->{KEY} : 0;

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basically, I just want to see if a variable is assigned a value and, if so, keep that value. if not, i'd like to set it to a default value (in case $b, an empty string). In case $c, i'm checking a key in an object, and returning a ref if it exists. I'm wondering if there's another way to write that, or approach that, that is more efficient/clean/better regarded.. i was wondering if there were something like - so i could save typing for the repeat of the var when the names are long 
$abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz = 'text';
$d = $abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ? $_ : 0;

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In reply to check for existing value, else set to default by nmerriweather

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