%hash->{key} is valid syntax?

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

Just stumbled across the fact that %hash->{key} is valid syntax (even under strict!) to access a hash key:

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my %hash;

%hash->{foo} = "bar";
print Dumper(\%hash);
[download]

Anybody knows why and can point to a man page explaining it?

Comment on %hash->{key} is valid syntax? Select or Download Code

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Re: %hash->{key} is valid syntax? by jweed (Chaplain) on Oct 27, 2004 at 00:46 UTC
`use diagnostics;` reveals the root of the issue: Using a hash as a reference is deprecated at tmp.pl line 7 (#1) (D deprecated) You tried to use a hash as a reference, as in %foo->{"bar"} or %$ref->{"hello"}. Versions of perl <= 5.6.1 used to allow this syntax, but shouldn't have. It is now deprecated, and will be removed in a future version. Code is (almost) always untested. http://www.justicepoetic.net/	[reply] [d/l]
Re: %hash->{key} is valid syntax? by pg (Canon) on Oct 27, 2004 at 00:39 UTC
Not really. It gives you this warning: `Using a hash as a reference is deprecated at d.pl line 7.` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: %hash->{key} is valid syntax? by saintmike (Vicar) on Oct 27, 2004 at 01:02 UTC
Not really. It gives you this warning: Using a hash as a reference is deprecated at d.pl line 7. Gotcha -- I was using perl 5.6.1, which didn't warn. Thanks!	[reply]
Re: %hash->{key} is valid syntax? by TedYoung (Deacon) on Oct 27, 2004 at 12:23 UTC
Yes `%h->{foo}` is the same thing as `$h{foo}`, just like `@a->[2]` is the same as `$a[2]`. It provided a way to deal with hashes and arrays without needing to learn about sigils. It was depricated in 5.8.1. I had asked a question about this a while back. Ted Young `($$<<$$=>$$<=>$$<=$$>>$$) always returns 1. :-)`	[reply] [d/l] [select]