you wrote: 
# umm -- uh.... well, the @sign implies
# we have an array, but how is it 
# different from the first array we
# dereferenced?

[download]
 It's a copy!
see this example: 
my $ref1 = ['a','b','c'];
my $ref2 = ['d','e','f'];

my $refref = [$ref1, $ref2];

myfunc($refref);
print $ref1->[0];

sub myfunc {
        my (@list) = @{[@{$_[0]}]};
        print $list[0][0];
        $list[0] = ['1','2','3'];
}

[download]
it prints 'aa' and not 'a1' because @{[(list of refs)]} has built a copy of 'list of refs' protecting $ref1 from being altered by the assignment inside the funcion
my 2 cents...

In reply to Re: Multiple Levels of Array Dereferencing Have me Stumped by cianoz
in thread Multiple Levels of Array Dereferencing Have me Stumped by metaperl

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