So I learned something about modifying values by reference today. I thought this would work: 
sub foo {
  my $ref = shift;

  # I expect this change to be visible outside of foo(). 
  $ref = { all => new };
}

[download]
I think I see why that doesn't work: I have recreated what "$ref" is, so it no longer is related to the data structure I passed in. However, modifying a value inside of $ref will still be visible outside of the subroutine: 
 
sub foo {
  my $ref = shift;

  # Modified value is now visible outside of foo()
  $ref->{all} = 'new';
}

[download]

(Yes, I know explicit return values are generally better style, but modify-by-reference is very handy in some cases).

Mark Stosberg

In reply to Modifying values by reference: what works and what doesn't by markjugg

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.