Hmmm, unreliable was probably the wrong word. But (still fishing for uses for this construct) if you'r using REF as an indicator for "there's something yet to dereference here", you're in for a surprise, because it isn't a comrehensive indicator. 

*r = \"moose";
print ref \*r;             # GLOB
print ${*r};               # moose

[download]

So the precise meaning of REF seems to be "a reference to something, and nothing else".

In reply to Re^4: ref eq "REF" by gaal
in thread ref == "REF" by gaal

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