Although you can pull apart a structure in that fashion to see what state it is in, it is probably smarter to understand why the structure doesn't contain the data that is expected. If the issue is that code elsewhere is wrong then ignoring the problem here is wrong too.

If it is normal for some of the data to be missing or in an unexpected form then you should try to structure you code to make that clear. For example, you could use exceptions (see eval and die) to escape from areas of code where things aree bad and avoid propagating corrupted data to areas of the code that doesn't have any sensible way of handling the situation.

If this doesn't make sense to you, then you need to tell us something about the bigger problem you are trying to solve so we can suggest a better solution.


True laziness is hard work

In reply to Re: how to check contents of my array ref by GrandFather
in thread how to check contents of my array ref by baxy77bax

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