Re: difference between @, $

[si_lence]

in reply to difference between @, $

Just to add to the answers already given:
I find it really helpful to visualize data structures with Data::Dumper. It helps me to see the difference. So

use Data::Dumper;


my @a = ['1','2','3','4'];
my $a = ['1','2','3','4']; 

print Dumper(\@a);
print Dumper($a);

gives

$VAR1 = [
          [
            '1',
            '2',
            '3',
            '4'
          ]
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          '1',
          '2',
          '3',
          '4'
        ];

illustrating the difference quite nicely.

[johngg]

It can also be useful to name the variables using Dump() or Dumpxs() (see Data::Dumper) to avoid confusion.

knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ perl -MData::Dumper -E '
> @arr1 = ( 1 .. 4 );
> @arr2 = [ 1 .. 4 ];
> $arr3 = [ 1 .. 4 ];
> print Data::Dumper->Dumpxs(
>    [ \ @arr1, \ @arr2, $arr3 ],
>    [ qw{ *arr1 *arr2 arr3 } ],
>    );'
@arr1 = (
          1,
          2,
          3,
          4
        );
@arr2 = (
          [
            1,
            2,
            3,
            4
          ]
        );
$arr3 = [
          1,
          2,
          3,
          4
        ];
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ 

I hope this is of interest.