I'm working on a project that wants me to use references to pass array elements into a subroutine where it will either add them, or multiply them (user specified). I got it to work perfect without using references but now that I have to use them, it isn't even making it through the interpreter (comiler?).

Take a look and see if you can help me out with some tips and pointers.

use warnings;
use strict;

my $ref = \@ARGV;

if ($ARGV[0] eq "add") {             #Checks for add
    my $rtn = add(@{$ref});             #Calls add subroutine
    print "The sum is: $rtn";
}

elsif ($ARGV[0] eq "multiply") {      #Checks for multiply
    my $rtn = multiply(@{$ref}]);       #Calls multiply subroutine
    print "Their product is: $rtn";
}

sub add {                            #add subroutine
    my ($sum);
    $sum=0;
    foreach $_(@_) {                 #Loops through the array
        $sum +=$_;                   #Adds each array element to the r
+est
    }
    return \$sum;                    #Returns the sum value
}

sub multiply {                       #multiply subroutine
    my $product=1;                   
    foreach $_(@_) {                 #Loops through the array
        $product*=$_;                #Multiplys each element to last
    }
    return \$product;                #Returns the product value
}

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In reply to references to subroutines by Anonymous Monk

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