Variables can help you clarify what you code does. Something an obscure data structure does not. For example, 
my $DEBUG = 1;

#... later in your code
if ($DEBUG) { warn "Something happened\n" }

[download]

I bet your thinking that this is pretty obvious but I still want to reduce the number of variables.

If you think you have too many variables in a section of code, chances are you have not abstracted out it out enough. Move more of your code into other subroutines to enhance clarity.

my $dimensions = _get_dimensions_for(5,8);

while (my ($r,$s) = each %{ $dimensions } ) {
    print($r);
}
sub _get_dimensions_for { 
  my $x = shift;
  my $y = shift;

  return { 
    x=> $x, 
    y=> $y 
  } 
}

[download]

Note: Thanks to ikegami for pointing out my error.

In reply to Re^3: Iterating over verbatim hash reference by Herkum
in thread Iterating over verbatim hash reference by rovf

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.