How to change the scalar value to some other context.

santhosh_89 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I want to change the scalar value to some other context(array/hash references). Actually my input will be as following.
Scalar will be a Input : '[1,'test',[{2=>3,3=>'test_56'},2,3,3]]'
If the scalar contains [],{}.I want change it to array-reference,hash-ref. The output should be as following if i print by using dumper module.
Dumper output :

      $VAR1 = [
          1,
          'test',
          [
            {
              '3' => 'test_56',
              '2' => 3
            },
            [
              2
            ],
            [
              3
            ],
            3
          ]
        ];
[download]

Comment on How to change the scalar value to some other context. Download Code

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Re: How to change the scalar value to some other context. by ig (Vicar) on Jul 24, 2009 at 11:20 UTC
It is difficult to understand what your question or problem is. It might help if you reviewed How do I post a question effectively? and perhaps brian's Guide to Solving Any Perl Problem, then updated your post with a question or statement describing what is preventing you doing what you want to do. update: rewritten to (I hope) clarify. update: The eval function may be what you are looking for. Consider the following: `use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my $x = "[1,'test',[{2=>3,3=>'test_56'},[2],[3],3]]"; my $y = eval $x; print Dumper($y);` [download] Is this what you are wanting to do?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: How to change the scalar value to some other context. by santhosh_89 (Scribe) on Jul 24, 2009 at 11:52 UTC
Is it secure method to use eval function.	[reply]
Re^3: How to change the scalar value to some other context. by ig (Vicar) on Jul 24, 2009 at 12:05 UTC
Is it secure method to use eval function. That is an excellent question. The short answer is: no. The eval function will parse and execute arbitrary code. Therefore, it is quite dangerous. Your program can still be secure if it ensures that the eval function will only evaluate "safe" code. To do this, you must carefully screen all inputs that go into the code the eval function evaluates. You might find perlsec and the 'taint' mode it describes helpful.	[reply]
Re: How to change the scalar value to some other context. by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Jul 24, 2009 at 15:54 UTC
I echo what ig and scorpio17 said. Don't use Dumper/eval for this. Use JSON (with JSON::XS installed so it uses it instead of the Perl version), YAML, or Storable. Those are all better, safer options.	[reply]
Re: How to change the scalar value to some other context. by scorpio17 (Canon) on Jul 24, 2009 at 13:13 UTC
You might consider using JSON instead. The format is different, but not by much. I've found JSON to be useful for "stringifying" data structures. There are modules on CPAN for encoding/decoding. And it avoids having to worry about eval.	[reply]