Re: How to call sub defined in a variable?

Initialize the array differently (ie with references to subs):

my @subs = (\&test, \&another_test, \&third_test);
my $sub_i_want_to_call = $subs[rand(@subs)];
$sub_i_want_to_call->();
[download]

See perlreftut for more informations.

Update: fixed copy&paste error in the code, thanks to ww++ for noticing.

Comment on Re: How to call sub defined in a variable? Download Code

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Re^2: How to call sub defined in a variable? by Arunbear (Prior) on Jan 25, 2009 at 21:29 UTC
Or using the distributive nature of referencing: `my @ary = \( &test, &another_test, &third_test ); my $sub_i_want_to_call = $ary[rand(@ary)]; $sub_i_want_to_call->();` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: How to call sub defined in a variable? by jh- (Scribe) on Jan 25, 2009 at 21:41 UTC
Thanks for suggestions, but I'm afraid that initializing the array with references instead of string literals would require lots of work in the context I'd need it. I actually stumbled upon this, but it relies on `no strict 'refs'`, and I'm left wondering if there's a way to do something similiar with `use strict`? `my @ary = qw( test another_test third_test ); my $sub_i_want_to_call = $ary[rand(@ary)]; { no strict 'refs'; &{$sub_i_want_to_call}; }` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^4: How to call sub defined in a variable? by Arunbear (Prior) on Jan 25, 2009 at 21:44 UTC
yes, use the names as lookups into the symbol table, e.g. `use strict; use warnings; sub test { print "something"; } sub another_test { print "something else"; } sub third_test { print "another unimaginative statement"; } $\ = "\n"; my @ary = qw( test another_test third_test ); my $sub_i_want_to_call = $main::{$ary[rand(@ary)]}; $sub_i_want_to_call->();` [download] See perlmod for the gory details of how it works.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^5: How to call sub defined in a variable? by jh- (Scribe) on Jan 25, 2009 at 21:58 UTC
Re^4: How to call sub defined in a variable? by ysth (Canon) on Jan 25, 2009 at 23:59 UTC
`&{$sub_i_want_to_call};` You probably want that to be `&{$sub_i_want_to_call}();` (or the equivalent `$sub_i_want_to_call->()`). Subroutine calls with & but without parens give the callee direct access to the caller's @_, including the ability to modify it: `$ perl -w sub foo { my $foo = shift } sub bar { &foo; warn @_ } bar("baz","quux","\n"); __END__ quux` [download] -- Online Fortune Cookie Search Office Space merchandise	[reply] [d/l] [select]