Option 2)

A callback would be simpler:

{
   iterate {
      my (
         $env_name,
         $platform_name,
         $host_name,
         $target_name,
         $total_capacity,
         $free_capacity,
      ) = @_;
   
      local $, = "\t";
      local $\ = "\n";

      print $env_name,
            $platform_name,
            $host_name,
            $target_name,
            $total_capacity,
            $free_capacity;
   } $stuff;
}
[download]

Tested.

Thanks ikegami,

I like it, very cool. Something I would never have come up with myself....well at least not this year ;-)

That's what I love about perlmonks, you always learn something useful.

Thanks again....to all Monks

Option 1)

You could build an iterator, seperating the traversal from the client as demonstrated by the following:

{
   my $iter = get_target_iter($stuff);

   while (my (
      $env_name,
      $platform_name,
      $host_name,
      $target_name,
      $total_capacity,
      $free_capacity,
   ) = $iter->()) {
      local $, = "\t";
      local $\ = "\n";

      print $env_name,
            $platform_name,
            $host_name,
            $target_name,
            $total_capacity,
            $free_capacity;
   }
}
[download]

Tested.

Update: Below is an alternative iterator. It's a drop-in replacement for the above function. This version is much smaller thanks to Algorithm::Loops's NestedLoops.

Tested.

that requires using the same bit of code again and again.

Whenever I see this phrase, deafening alarm bells and sirens go off in my head. In the vast majority of cases, any time you're using the same (or similar) chunk of code over and over again, you can probably do better with a subroutine. In the case of a sub for traversing a complex data structure, you may want to use a callback hook to provide the specific functionality.

There are modules available on CPAN to traverse complex data structures. One that I'm aware of is nothingmuch's Data::Visitor::Callback, but I'm sure there are more...

Data::Traverse looks like it fits the bill, too.

• I could live with 'several' and not worry too much. :-)
• You could do everything in one pass.
• You could consider putting your traversing loops into a sub and pass a sub ref for the particular work that needs to be done.

HTH