How to reference the return value of perl sub

Question

Code:

my $compare = List::Compare->new(\@hand, \@new_hand); print_cards("Discarded", $compare->get_Lonly()) if ($verbose); 

print_cards expects (scalar, array reference).
get_Lonly returns an array. What is the syntax for converting this to a link so that I can pass it to print_cards? \@{$compare->getLonly()} does not work, for example.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You probably want

 print_cards("Discarded", [$compare->get_Lonly]) 

Routines do not return arrays; they return a list of values. We can create an array reference using [...] .

Another option would be to create an explicit array

 if ($verbose) { my @array = $compare->get_Lonly; print_cards("Discarded", \@array) } 

The first solution is a shortcut to this.

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@{ ... } is the dereference operator. It expects an array reference. This does not work, as you think, if you give him a list.