I understand what ikegami and Marshall are saying but now I am seeking clarification on how it should be done in perl. In C what I would usually do is: 
typedef struct s_USERINFO{
    CString m_username;
    CString m_password;
    CString m_emailAddress[20];
} USERINFO;

int main () {
    USERINFO currentUserInfo;
    test( currentUserInfo );
    printf ("%s", currentUserInfo.m_username);
}
void test ( USERINFO* thisUserInfo ) {
    thisUserInfo->m_username = "Pigsy's Perfect Ten";
}

[download]
What I want to do is update the struct/hash in the subroutine/function and then be able to access the updated value in the main thread. In Perl my assumption on how to do this is: 
use warnings;
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
sub test (\%);
#no strict 'refs';
my $username        = "PerlMonk";
my $password        = "VeryGoodPassword";
my @email_addresses = ( "Monk1", "Monk2", "Monk3" );

my %Record1 = ( username        => '$' ,
                password        => $password , 
                emailAddress    => [@email_addresses] );
$Record1{username} = 'NOOoooooo!';

&test( %Record1 );
sub test (\%) {
    my $reference = shift;
    my $test = "Pigsy's Perfect Ten";
    $$reference->{username} = $test;
    print $$reference->{username}, "\n";
}
print $Record1{username}, "\n";

[download]
So what I am hoping to have as an outcome of this is for the final print command to print out "Pigsy's Perfect Ten". I have two problems with this, I keep getting 'NOOoooooo!' printed out, and also I am getting the error "Can't use string ("password") as a HASH ref while "strict refs" in use at C:/xxx/test.pl line 24 ( &test( %Record1 );)." With both problems I am assuming there are problems with my syntax that I just can't figure out. Any help is appreciated.

In reply to Re^2: Elaborate Records, arrays and references by KyussRyn
in thread Elaborate Records, arrays and references by KyussRyn

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