Subs return lists; and both hashes and arrays flatten to lists. The only problematic one is the scalar:
#! perl -slw
use strict;
use Data::Dump qw[ pp ];
sub func {
my $arg = shift;
my %hash = 'a'..'f';
my @array = 0..9;
my $scalar = 'scalar';
$arg == 1 and return %hash;
$arg == 2 and return @array;
$arg == 3 and return $scalar;
}
sub wrapper {
my @rv = func( @_ );
return @rv == 1 ? $rv[ 0 ] : @rv;
}
my %hash = wrapper( 1 ); pp \%hash;
my @array = wrapper( 2 ); pp\@array;;
my $scalar = wrapper( 3 ); pp $scalar;
__END__
c:\test>junk12
{ a => "b", c => "d", e => "f" }
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
"scalar"
Of course, if you want to find out the current bucket allocation of the hash, or retrieve the last item of the array; you'll need to assign it to the appropriate variable in the calling code first.
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
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In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
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