I'm well aware that a reference in numeric context is a very large number. I also understand that setting $#a to a reference makes @a really really big. That doesn't explain why $#a is behaving so oddly when I retrieve its value.

I would expect 

$#a = $foo;
$#a = $foo + 0;

[download]
to be the same thing. Just like how 
$hash{$foo} = 1;
$hash{"".$foo} = 1;

[download]
is the same (unless %hash is tied). But this is not the case -- when $foo is a reference and I retrieve $#a, it is also acting much like (but not entirely like) a reference, not just a number.

blokhead

In reply to Re^2: Putting weird things into $#array by blokhead
in thread Putting weird things into $#array by blokhead

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.