in reply to using a string as a SCALAR ref while "strict refs" in use

If strict is bothering you :) turn it off :)  no strict 'refs';   ## no critic; because  strict itself confers no benefits; The benefits come from avoidance of the bad practices forbidden by  strict :)

Its time to read a classic :)

Here is explanation of how to do this (  no strict 'refs';   ## no critic;), why not to do this, and the better approach -- it is FAQ :)

  1. Why it's stupid to `use a variable as a variable name'
  2. A More Direct Explanation of the Problem
  3. What if I'm Really Careful?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: using a string as a SCALAR ref while "strict refs" in use
by xorl (Deacon) on Jun 19, 2012 at 11:42 UTC
    Well because I really don't want to turn strict off since as you point out using a variable as a variable name isn't the best idea. As I mentioned in my post, I'm willing to consider alternatives. I'm just not seeing how to implement the alternatives in my specific case.
[reply]
      I'm just not seeing how to implement the alternatives in my specific case
      Well, its difficult to know, since you don't show why you need a bunch of $newfoo variables, but the approach with a hash might be to have two hashes, one for the original vars, and one for the new vars; so something like 
      use strict;
my %vars = ("foo" => 1, "bar" => 2, "baz" =>3);
my %newvars = ("newfoo" => "A");

foreach my $var (keys %vars) {
  my $newvarname = "new" . $var;
  if (defined $newvars{$newvarname}) {
    $vars{$var} = $newvars{$newvarname};
  }
}

      [download]

      Dave.

[reply]
[d/l]

      Well because I really don't want to turn strict off... strict is lexically scoped, you don't have to turn it off for the whole program 

      no strict;
if (defined $$newvarname) {
    $$var = $$newvarname;
}

      [download]
      but that will only work of the vars are our vars

      I'm just not seeing how to implement the alternatives in my specific case.

      You could improve upon your description ( post a more complete question), I don't see why a hash couldn't work 

      my %hash = ( qw/ foo 1 bar 2 baz 3 / );

$array[$user_section] =~ s{
    ^ username => (.*) $
}{
    Dance( \%hash, $1 );
}xemg;

sub Dance {
   my( $vars, $one ) = @_;
   my $name = $vars->{$one};
   return "username => $name" if defined $name;
   die "no name for $one ";
}

      [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
Re^2: using a string as a SCALAR ref while "strict refs" in use
by Anonymous Monk on Jun 19, 2012 at 11:31 UTC

    But that would only work with GLOBALS (our/vars ) not lexicals (my)

    If you want to get at lexicals (my vars) you should use PadWalker

[reply]

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