Is it possible, perhaps, to retrieve array slices from an array reference, instead of de-referencing the entire array?

You'd have to explain (Show code!) how the array is being populated and used before that question could be answered accurately.

The population of the array is done from an extrinsic library and returns and array reference. It should be considered an inscrutable process. I have sufficient memory for that. My issue occurs upon dereferencing the array.

my @unfilteredOutput = @$outputRef;
...
my $total_size = total_size(\@unfilteredOutput);
    print PROGRESS "SIZE OF UNFILTERED OUT FROM INFO FILTER: ".$total_
+size;
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$total_size is too large. I know that isn't much help...sorry...

My issue occurs upon dereferencing the array. my @unfilteredOutput = @$outputRef;

That not (just) dereferencing the array, it is copying it. Effectively doubling your memory usage. So don't do that.

Anything you can do with @unfilteredOutput, you can do using $outputRef (using a slightly different syntax), without having to copy it first.

For example, you might iterate the elements of @unfilteredOutput like this:

$_ += $somevalue for @unfilteredOutput;
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You could do the same thing without having duplicated the memory using:

$outputRef->[ $_ ] += $someValue for 0 .. $#{ $outputRef };
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And for your example, you can do:

my $total_size = total_size( $outputRef );
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Which will give you the same number, but will avoid having to duplicate it all first.

It seems like you need to read perldsc.

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