What Data::Dumper usually does is dump your data in a nice, legible format. There are actually quite a few uses for the module, but most programmers start using it with something like the following:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
my $foo = 'test';
my @array = qw/ this is an array /;
my %hash = (
one => 'une',
two => 'deux',
three => \&some_subroutine,
four =>
{
uh => 'oh',
name => [qw/Publius Ovidius Naso/]
}
);
my $bar;
print Dumper $foo, \@array;
print Dumper \%hash;
print Dumper $bar;
Thus, you can use Data::Dumper to quickly 'dump' the contents of your variables. Yes, you can print a scalar, but printing out complex data structures (like the hash, above) can be tedious. Data::Dumper frees you from the hard work and makes debugging a breeze. If you do CGI work, try dumping the CGI object sometime. It's most informative :)
Once you get used to using Data::Dumper, reread the documentation. It will be easier to understand.
Cheers,
Ovid
Update: For the record, this is the output of the above code:
$VAR1 = 'test';
$VAR2 = [
'this',
'is',
'an',
'array'
];
$VAR1 = {
'one' => 'une',
'three' => sub { "DUMMY" },
'two' => 'deux',
'four' => {
'uh' => 'oh',
'name' => [
'Publius',
'Ovidius',
'Naso'
]
}
};
$VAR1 = undef;
I don't see how munchie could have gotten the output listed below.
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