perlquestion Anonymous Monk Dear monks, I'd like to have a reference to an array element (or hash element) which is updated as the original array is changed. See code below: <code> print "--------Trying with arrays-------\n"; my @a = (0, 1, 2, 3); my $ar = \@a; # Array reference my $air = \$a[0]; # Reference to member of an array print "Define array >@a<\nCreate a reference to \$a[0]\n"; print "array ref: >@$ar< \n"; print "array index ref: >$$air<\n"; @a = ('a','b','c'); print "Change array to >@a<\n"; print "array ref: >@$ar< \n"; print "array index ref: >$$air<\n"; # <--- I'd like to get "a" here print "--------Trying with strings-------\n"; my $s = "string"; my $sr = \$s; print "orignal: >$s<\n"; print "reference: >$$sr<\n"; $s = "changed string"; print "string: >$s<\n"; print "string reference: >$$sr<\n"; </code> OUPUT: <code> --------Trying with arrays------- Define array >0 1 2 3< Create a reference to $a[0] array ref: >0 1 2 3< array index ref: >0< Change array to >a b c< array ref: >a b c< array index ref: >0< --------Trying with strings------- orignal: >string< reference: >string< string: >changed string< string reference: >changed string< </code> <p> It works with the string, but it doesn't work with the array element. I'd like to get the updated array element when dereferencing. This example is simplified. The original problem is a referenced variable for a Tk Checkbutton where the referent get's updated by another subroutine, but the reference still shows the old value. I don't want to update the data through the reference as it's a more complex structure which makes it much easier to asign a whole new array instead of looping through it and update each single element. </p> <p> Help, ideas, .. are greatly appreciated as I couldn't find anything suitable in the net or I'm looking for the wrong phrases. ; </p> 12