Sorry to disappoint you but the curly braces do not dereference, @{a} is equivalent to @a. The curly braces only allow more complicated constructs with unambiguous precedence, for example ${$a[3]}[4] versus ${$a}[3][4]. If you want dereference, @{$a} or simply @$a is the right choice.

Update: Thanks to choroba and SuicideJunkie for spotting a $ where a @ should have been

In reply to Re^2: size of an array ref by jethro
in thread size of an array ref by fionbarr

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