I have written a module which contains some oft used subroutines.

One routine is simply extracting data from a file into an array. I have written the code in a couple of ways, both seem to do the job ok: 

# from wslib.pm

sub gencli {

  open FH, '<', $gencli or die "Can't open $gencli $!";
  flock (FH, 1) or die "Can't lock $gencli  for reading: $!";
  my @gencli = <FH>;
  close FH;

  return \@gencli;

}

#from script, subroutine call
my $gencli_scalar = gencli();
my @gencli = @{ $gencli_scalar };

[download]

The other way

#from wslib.pm
sub gencli {

  open FH, '<', $gencli or die "Can't open $gencli $!";
  flock (FH, 1) or die "Can't lock $gencli  for reading: $!";
  @_ = <FH>;
  close FH;

}

#from script
&gencli;
my @gencli = @_;
@_=();

[download]

In the former example can I get the scalar out of the subroutine without creating a sacrificial $gencli? Is the second way 'wrong'?

thank you

In reply to Extracting an array from a module by jonnyfolk

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