Comment on

The reference refers to the scalar retrieved via $a[0], not the array index [0]. The reference knows nothing about the array that scalar came from. And the scalar will exist as long as its refcount is > 0.

$ perl -MDevel::Peek -E'@a=qw(a b c); $r=\$a[0]; Dump $r; @a=(); Dump 
+$r'
SV = IV(0xa95bc0) at 0xa95bd0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (ROK)
  RV = 0xa77998
  SV = PV(0xa75c20) at 0xa77998
    REFCNT = 2                   <---
    FLAGS = (POK,pPOK)
    PV = 0xa8ee40 "a"\0
    CUR = 1
    LEN = 16
SV = IV(0xa95bc0) at 0xa95bd0
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (ROK)
  RV = 0xa77998
  SV = PV(0xa75c20) at 0xa77998
    REFCNT = 1                   <---
    FLAGS = (POK,pPOK)
    PV = 0xa8ee40 "a"\0
    CUR = 1
    LEN = 16
[download]

(note the refcounts)

In reply to Re^2: Update references by Eliya
in thread Update references by Anonymous Monk

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

Outside of code tags, you may need to use entities for some characters:

	For:		Use:
	&		`&`
	<		`<`
	>		`>`
	[		`[`
	]		`]`

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.

Comment on

The best material for plates (tableware) is: