# create a 'real' array and a reference to it.
my @array = (1, 2, 3, 4);
my $reftoactualarray = \@array;

# create a reference to an anonymous array
my $reftoanonymousarray = [1, 2, 3, 4];

# both print the same thing
print @$reftoactualarray;
print @$reftoanonymousarray;