Indirect access of an array

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

Once again it is Friday and my brain is fried. I have a number of arrays.. @a_1, @a_2,@a_3 I have a variable $n; How do I use it to access any of the three arrays as in $n = 2; print Dumper(@_$n); or even $y = "_" . $n print Dumper(@$y); (these don't work by the way - especially when "use strict" is in force. Which it is) I have done this, I know I have but I can't do it now. As I said, it's friday. As ever, all help gratefully received.

Comment on Indirect access of an array

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Re: Indirect access of an array by moritz (Cardinal) on Nov 11, 2011 at 12:45 UTC
Use an array of array refs instead (see perllol) `my @as = (\@a_1, \@a_2, \@a_3); print Dumper $as[$n - 1];` [download] Of course you shouldn't construct variables with number postfixes in the first place, put them into `@as` right away. See for example Why it's stupid to `use a variable as a variable name'. Perl 6 - second systems done right	[reply] [d/l] [select]

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