Howdy! 

sub execSubroutine
{
    my $sub = shift;
    my @sub_ret = &{$sub}(@_);

    # Return an list if we get a list with more than one value
    # this will satisfy callers expecting lists and/or hashes
    return @sub_ret if (@sub_ret > 1);

    my $rval = $sub_ret[0];

    # If we have a ref de-reference and return.
    if (my $type = ref($rval)) {
        return @$rval if ($type eq 'ARRAY');
        return %$rval if ($type eq 'HASH');
    }

    # If not a ref and the caller wants a list, give it to them
    if (wantarray) {
        return @sub_ret;
    }

    # Otherwise return a scalar
    return $rval;
}

[download]

To add staples to the belt and suspenders, and to cover the chance that the sub you are calling displays different behavior in list versus scalar contexts, you could try the following: 

sub execSubroutine
{
    my $sub = shift;

    my (@array, $scalar);
    if (wantarray)
    {
        @array = &{$sub}(@_);
        return @array if (@array != 1);
        $scalar = $array[0];
    }
    else
    {
        $scalar = &{$sub}(@_);
    }
    my $rval = $scalar;

    # If we have a ref de-reference and return.
    if (my $type = ref($rval)) {
        return @$rval if ($type eq 'ARRAY');
        return %$rval if ($type eq 'HASH');
    }

    # Otherwise return a scalar
    return $rval;
}

[download]
This ensures that the calling context is supplied to the target.

yours,
Michael

In reply to Re: Determining subroutine return type by herveus
in thread Determining subroutine return type by satchm0h

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.