http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=1012971


in reply to Re^4: Join files using perl
in thread Join files using perl

$aref is a reference, not the value you're looking for. You need to dereference to get the value, e.g., useful output. See ?node_id=3989;BIT=dereference, a quik'n'dirty list of links found with Super Search, which along with other search functions, can be very helpful, as long as you have the terminology to ask for relevant nodes).