in reply to Re^2: Hash value sorting
in thread Hash value sorting

That code collides with your explanation of the data structure in 987336. Only one can be correct.

In the constructor I see you initialise the field _counts with a hash reference. Where do you now get a scalar reference from?

It would help if you dump $self before sorting, so we can see what the data structure really looks like. 

use Data::Dumper; print Dumper $self;

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Re^4: Hash value sorting
by iHutch105 (Initiate) on Aug 14, 2012 at 15:41 UTC

    You're absolutely right and I've found the problem.

    I made a mistake whenever I was creating/adding to values in the hash. I had this line:

    ${$self->{_counts}{$key}} += $value;

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    This was where the scalar ref was coming from. I should note, key and value are parameter passed in, representing the obvious. This line explains why I had to do some extra, dodgy dereferencing later on and, of course, should have read:

    $self->{_counts}{$key} += $value;

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    All seems to be sorted now. Code looks a lot tidier too. First time I've really used references much but it's been a good learning experience.

    Thanks to all for the help and suggestions.

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