Newbie Question

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Newbie Question by toolic (Bishop) on Feb 17, 2009 at 20:26 UTC
`$stuff[0]` looks to be the first element of the array `@stuff`. Do you see `@stuff` anywhere in your code? Data::Dumper may help. `use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\%nums);` [download] Update: Please choose a better title for your node. See How do I compose an effective node title?.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Newbie Question by pgaraitonandia (Novice) on Feb 17, 2009 at 20:42 UTC
thank you were right.	[reply]
Re: Newbie Question by lostjimmy (Chaplain) on Feb 17, 2009 at 20:29 UTC
This line is checking if the key `$stuff[0]` exists in the hash `%nums`. `$stuff[0]` is the first element in the array `@stuff`. Example: `my @stuff = qw/a b c d/; my %nums = ( a => 1, b => 2, c => 3, ); if (exists $nums{$stuff[0]}) { print "$stuff[0] is in \%nums"; ) }` [download] This will print `a is in %nums`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Newbie Question by pgaraitonandia (Novice) on Feb 17, 2009 at 20:44 UTC
Thank you you were correct	[reply]
Re: Newbie Question by pgaraitonandia (Novice) on Feb 17, 2009 at 20:41 UTC
There is a an array with the name @stuff. That makes a lot more sense. Thank you both for the reply	[reply]
Re: Newbie Question by Anonymous Monk on Feb 18, 2009 at 02:41 UTC
Hi, Perhaps the following might help? @stuff = ( "myfirstvar" ); %nums = ( 'myfirstvar', 1 ); if ( exists $nums{ $stuff[0] } ) { print "howdy!"; } It appears that 'stuff' is an array. You're dereferencing the first element of that array and then deteferencing a hash element based on what's stored in the array's element. ie: Suppose that "foo" is stored in the first element of the array 'stuff', then you're deteferencing the element with the index 'foo' in the 'nums' hash table. You are essentially checking, if that index in that hashtable exists. If it does, then do ... Ozy	[reply]
Re^2: Newbie Question by toolic (Bishop) on Feb 18, 2009 at 14:59 UTC
<nitpick> I believe you are misusing the term "dereference". I think it would be more accurate to use the term "subscript". Refer to Subscripts and perlreftut for the distinction.	[reply]