comment on

Given that each form field name must be unique in a form just use a hash reference:

my @names = qw(name age location); # add do this list whenever
# make a hash reference and populate it
@$fields{@names} = ( ... list of corresponding values ...);
[download]

This expression may seem obscure, I'll explain it a bit. Consider:

# a normal hash assignment - scalar context
$field{'name'} = 'Richard';
# a normal hash assignment - list context
@field{qw(name age)} = qw(Richard 24);
[download]

So, @$fields{@names} does this:

using {} in the lvalue perl is told it's a hash, the {} takes keys
the @ tells perl $fields is a reference, dereferences it and uses it in list context
now you can assign it a list.

Using strict you must declare the symbol $fields before accessing it:

use strict;
my @names = qw(name age location); # add do this list whenever
# make a hash reference and populate it
my $fields = {};  # declare $fields being a hash reference
@$fields{@names} = ( ... list of corresponding values ...);
[download]

That way you can pass the hash reference directly to submit_form:

$mech->submit_form(
    form_name => $search_form,
    fields      => $fields,
    }
);
[download]

The second question I cannot answer because I don't know how you do it...

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}

In reply to Re: WWW::Mechanize with optional fields by shmem
in thread WWW::Mechanize with optional fields by Anonymous Monk

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