Re: copying array from a hash reference

[AnomalousMonk]

in reply to copying array from a hash reference

The problem is that @AniAry = $AniType{cats} does not result in a copy of the array. I've tried the following as well:
    @AniAry = @{ $AniType{cats} };
    ...

I don't understand what you mean in the second code example above. This works (i.e., copies the referenced array) for me:

>perl -wMstrict -le
"my %AniType = (
   cats => ['I', 'like', 'cats'],
   dogs => ['I', 'like', 'dogs'],
   none => ['I', 'like', 'neither'],
   both => ['I', 'like', 'both'],
   );
 ;;
 my @AniAry = @{ $AniType{cats} };
 printf qq{'$_' } for @AniAry;
"
'I' 'like' 'cats'

[Greg_R]

You experienced the same confusion that I did! I thought I was copying the array correctly (based on some perldocs examples). I added some additional debug code and determined that the program calling my subroutine is extremely picky in terms of the format that I return. In fact, my best option was to create and return a long string for each display line from the referenced hashes. Thanks for everyone's help; knowing I was copying / referencing correctly allowed me to focus on other areas of the code and catch the real problem.