in reply to Parse .csv file

You can return multiple results as:

Array
return ($all->[0]->{$field_name}, $first_cell);
Arrayref
return [$all->[0]->{$field_name}, $first_cell];
Hashref
return {field_name => $all->[0]->{$field_name}, first_cell => $first_cell};

Of these, I'd pick one of the references as these package the data and you're only passing around a single scalar value. Further, I'd choose the hashref over the arrayref because you're not restricted to the order of the results and dealing with the returned values is easier and more readable. Consider: 

my $h = hlookup(...);

# First cell value with arrayref
my $first_cell = $h[1];

# First cell value with hashref
my $first_cell = $h{first_cell};

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-- Ken

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Re^2: Parse .csv file
by Sherlock Perl (Novice) on Jul 10, 2012 at 21:01 UTC
    Thank you both for your answers. My question is how do I get the value in cell A1 to be in $first_cell?
[reply]

      Rather than trying to calculate a negative offset equating to the first record - and writing a multi-line comment explaining what you're doing - you can just reposition the file pointer to the start of the file with seek.

      In the code below, $called_first_row represents what you called $first_row. Perhaps $first_wanted_row, or something similar, would have been a better choice of variable name; $fourth_row would have been completely accurate. 

      #!/usr/bin/env perl

use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;

use Text::CSV_XS;

my $csv_file = q{pm_csv_first_cell.csv};

open my $csv_fh, q{<}, $csv_file or die $!;

my $csv_obj = Text::CSV_XS::->new();

my $called_first_row = $csv_obj->getline_all($csv_fh, 3, 1);

say qq{@{$called_first_row->[0]}};

seek $csv_fh, 0, 0;

my $real_first_row = $csv_obj->getline_all($csv_fh, 0, 1);

say qq{@{$real_first_row->[0]}};

say q{First cell value: }, $real_first_row->[0][0];

close $csv_file;

      [download]

      Sample run and file contents:

      ken@ganymede: ~/tmp
$ cat pm_csv_first_cell.csv
z,x,c,v,b,n
a,s,d,f,g,h
q,w,e,r,t,y
1,2,3,4,5,6
ken@ganymede: ~/tmp
$ pm_csv_first_cell.pl
1 2 3 4 5 6
z x c v b n
First cell value: z
ken@ganymede: ~/tmp
$

      [download]

      -- Ken

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      After reading Text::CSV the following code can be suggested: 
      my $a_one = $csv->getline($fh)->[0];
<...>
my $first_row = $csv->getline_all( $fh ,2, 1 ); # decrease offset by 1
+ because one line was read earlier

      [download]
      Sorry if my advice was wrong.
[reply]
[d/l]

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