Return a var from one sub to another

Luken8r has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Im a noob asking, what is likely a really noob question, so here it goes I have some code has some function foo() that I need to return two variables from to another function goo():

sub foo{
my %args = ( message => 0, error => 0);
my $msg;
my $var1 = 0

if ($var = 0) {
$msg = "var 0";
return { error =>0, message=$msg }
}
else{
$msg = "not var 0"
return { error =>1, message=$msg }
}
[download]

What I would like to do is use error in some other function goo()
If I do

sub goo{
my $var = &file::foo();
system (`echo "var is $var" > ~/file`);
}
[download]

I get some hash out of it. How can I get the individual variables error and message from the first function?

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Re: Return a var from one sub to another by philcrow (Priest) on Jul 10, 2007 at 20:29 UTC
Your foo only returns one value which is a reference to a hash (which is a common technique). To get the values, use a bit more notation, something like so: `sub goo { my $var = foo(); print "var is $var->{ message }\n" if $var->{error}; }` [download] The Gantry Web Framework Book is now available.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Return a var from one sub to another by FunkyMonk (Chancellor) on Jul 10, 2007 at 20:44 UTC
You could use a hashref (which you're nearly doing): `sub foo { #... return { errno => 0, errmess => $msg }; } my $error = foo(); print $error->{errno}, $error->{errmess};` [download] Or, you can use lists: `sub foo { #... return ( 0, $msg ); } my ( $errno, $errmess ) = foo();` [download] Also, watch out for: `if ($var = 0) {` [download] That's going to assign zero to `$var`. If you start all your scripts with: `use strict; use warnings;` [download] perl will catch that for you (as well as many other errors & warnings). update: used parentheses instead of braces. doh.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Return a var from one sub to another by Luken8r (Novice) on Jul 10, 2007 at 23:07 UTC
Thanks for the tips. Ill give that a shot	[reply]