in reply to Re: Re: Why the error?
in thread Why the error?

\* is called a typeglob... if you are a beginner, this is way advanced for you to understand..
in some words, this is a reference (and here a reference to a filehandle)
the * is the typeglob.
and the \ is to dereference it.
a typeglob references anything from a $scalar, to an @array on to a FILEHANDLE

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Why the error?
by Ido (Hermit) on Mar 10, 2001 at 15:47 UTC
    Ummm... * is a typeglob, which means in a way "Everything named ...". So *foo is everything named foo: $foo,@foo,%foo,&foo,the fh foo, and the format foo,(I'm sure I missed something,,but don't know what.) \*foo is a reference to the typeglob. A typeglob or a ref to it, can be used as an "indirect filehandle". Typeglobs are also used to create aliases: 
    *foo=*bar; #Now everything named bar is also named foo
*fooo=\$barr #now $fooo is an alias to $barr

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    And to create a refernce using the *foo{THING} thing which is explained in perlref(As the 7th way to create a reference). For more about typeglobs, read perldata.
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