Re: How do I determine the type of a reference?

[Mr. Muskrat]

The Scalar::Util module provides a function reftype for this. It's somewhat more robust than the built-in ref function.

use Scalar::Util 'reftype';

my $reftype = reftype $x;

if ( !defined $reftype ) {
    print "\$x is not a reference.\n";
}
elsif ( $reftype eq 'HASH' ) {
    # do something with %$x
}
elsif ( $reftype eq 'ARRAY' ) {
    # do something with @$x
}
elsif ( $reftype eq 'SCALAR' ) {
    # do something with $$x
}
else {
    # do something else
}
# ...

[asarih]

Note that Scalar::Util::reftype behaves almost like the built-in ref, except when an object is passed.

use Scalar::Util 'reftype';
$a=\$b;
print reftype($a),"\n"; #SCALAR
print ref($a),"\n";     #SCALAR
bless $a, "BOGUS";
print reftype($a),"\n"; #SCALAR
print ref($a),"\n";     #BOGUS

[Mr. Muskrat]

And that is exactly why I chose to use it!