in reply to Re^4: Working through it...
in thread Working through it...

@myarray=();

You should probably use my @myarray; instead.

$currVar=\$myarray;

$myarray has nothing to do with @myarray.

$currVar=\$currVar[TableDepth1name];

You're taking a reference to the value stored in the array at that position. Because you're trying to build an array of arrays, the value stored in the array at that position is itself an array reference.

$currVar=\$currVar[TableDepth2name];

... and this is where things go really weird, because you're trying to treat a reference to an array reference as an array, and then take a reference to whatever Perl happens to autovivify at that position.

If you want the value in $myarray[TableDepth1name][TableDepth2name], write:

my $value = $myarray[TableDepth1name][TableDepth2name];

It's that easy if TableDepth1name and TableDepth2name are constants or functions which return valid indexes for the array of arrays reachable through $myarray. My guess is that they're not, and that you're not using strict and warnings, and Perl's doing its best to try to guess what you mean.

As I've mentioned before, you really need to get the hang of nested data structures before you go any further, because this is not the sort of thing that anyone can just throw together random syntactic elements and get the right results. It's one of the weirdest corners of Perl 5 and it takes some practice, but it has a logic and a consistency despite its quirks.

Improve your skills with Modern Perl: the free book.

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Re^6: Working through it...
by Inexistence (Acolyte) on Sep 12, 2011 at 05:23 UTC
    Thank-you for the info, mucho appreciated. I sorta figured out the reference to reference thing from the code errors I've fumbled my way into having it nearly functional after plenty more hours :) As much as i've hated strict, i'm using it now. So many more errors of course, but in the end it must be the better way to do it (versus as you said, perl guessing what to do) Thank-you again :) Cheers!
    There isn't in existence