Passing an array and a variable to a function in Perl

Question

I have an issue passing an array and a variable to a function. For example, I have the following.

 my @the_array = ("hello", "hey");
 CallFunction(@the_array, "random")


 sub CallFunction{
     my (@array_ref, $ran_variable) = @_;

     foreach $element (@array_ref){
         print $element ."\n";
     }
 }

I would want the following output

hello
hey

But I get the other variable in the output, and I don't know why.

hello
hey
random

What you call array_ref is an array, not an array reference. — nicolas
– nicolas, Commented Aug 22, 2014 at 21:35

Miller · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-22 21:37:19Z

5

The following assignment will put all the values in parameter list @_ into @array_ref:

my (@array_ref, $ran_variable) = @_;

You have two options.

Reorder the passing of parameters, so that the array is at the end:

my @the_array = ( "hello", "hey" );
CallFunction( "random", @the_array );

sub CallFunction {
    my ( $ran_variable, @array ) = @_;

    for my $element (@array) {
        print $element . "\n";
    }
}

Or pass the array by reference:

my @the_array = ( "hello", "hey" );
CallFunction( \@the_array, "random" );

sub CallFunction {
    my ( $arrayref, $ran_variable ) = @_;

    for my $element (@$arrayref) {
        print $element . "\n";
    }
}

Minor Note — Naming a normal array @array_ref is a little confusing. Save the ref suffix for variables actually holding references.

edited Aug 22, 2014 at 21:37

answered Aug 22, 2014 at 21:32

Miller

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