How do I make an array of hashes?

[vroom]

How do I make an array of hashes?

Originally posted as a Categorized Question.

[chromatic]

my @array = (
  {
    'name' => 'Chuck',
    'job'  => 'roustabout',
  },
  {
    'name' => 'CowboyNeal',
    'job'  => 'code monkey',
  },
);

You can also use normal array operations (such as push) to modify an array:

push @array, { 'name' => 'vroom', 'job' => 'stacking blocks' };
print $array[0]->{name};

See perlman:perldsc for more information.

[fx]

If the hash has already been created, you can store references to the hash in arrays:

push(@array, \%some_hash);

and then when you pop them off:

$hash_ref = pop(@array);

you'll get a scalar back which can be dereferenced to get at the values of the hash:

$value = $hash_ref->{'key'};