Note that, in general, if foo returns a hashref, you can get the hash (if you *really* need it) by using braces judiciously, e.g.

my %hash = %{foo(@args_to_foo)};
# or, with a method that returns a hashref
my %hash = %{$object->foo};
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Either way, though, you lose some of the speed advantages of passing around references.

Philosophy can be made out of anything. Or less -- Jerry A. Fodor