References are useful to pass data to functions. Using references, you pass a single scalar to the function, so perl doesn't have to copy the entire thing. Update: And they are also useful to create complex data structures. A hash of hashes is really a hash of references to hashes.

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David Serrano

In reply to Re: Relative Merits of References by Hue-Bond
in thread Relative Merits of References by pbeckingham

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