Dear Monks

I would like to know if it is possible to retrieve the number of references to a perl variable (in my case a hash-object).
For example, I have an array of objects (each object might be referenced by something else) and I only want to use those objects which are referenced.
I was thinking about using information from the GC (which does reference counting), but I'm not sure how and also, my brethren, I'm not sure this is the right path!!?

Thnx a lot
LuCa

Update: very interesting posts (weak reference is new for me). For the problem at hand I prefer cdarke's solution. thnx again!

In reply to The number of references to a variable by jeanluca

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