Can't retrieve with storable

RuneK has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi all, I have an issue with Storable and retrieving data back into an array from a stored array.
Code:

use Storable;
use strict;

my @array1 = ('a','b','c','d');
my @array2 = ();

print $#array1."\n";
store(\@array1,"file") or die "Cannot store\n";
@array2 = retrieve("file") or die "Cannot retrieve\n";
print $#array2."\n";
[download]

Output is:
3
0

So when I retrieve data from the file (which is there and has a size) nothing comes into @array2. How come? Is it related to that @array2 and $#array2 doesn't refer to the same "thing"?

Question is: How to I retrieve my data back into the @array2 so that it is equal to @array1?

Thanks in advance, Rune

Comment on Can't retrieve with storable Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Can't retrieve with storable by Joost (Canon) on Sep 15, 2004 at 08:39 UTC
`retrieve` returns a reference, just like store takes a reference as an argument. So, you're assigning an array reference to @array2. You can do either: `@array2 = @{retrieve("file")} ...` [download] or `my $aref = retrieve("file") or die "Cannot retrieve\n"; print @$aref;` [download] See perlref for more info about references. "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Can't retrieve with storable by zejames (Hermit) on Sep 15, 2004 at 08:40 UTC
You store a array reference, so you must retrieve an array reference too : `store(\@array1,"file") or die "Cannot store\n"; @array2 = @{retrieve("file")} or die die "Cannot retrieve\n"; print $#array2."\n";` [download] HTH -- zejames	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Can't retrieve with storable by borisz (Canon) on Sep 15, 2004 at 08:45 UTC
retrieve returns a reference to your data _not_ the data. `my $aref = retrieve("file") or die "Cannot retrieve\n"; @array2 = @$aref; print $#array2."\n";` [download] Boris	[reply] [d/l]