perlstorable

Basic issue retrieve array or string from file using Storable retrieve

The problem is very simple but I can't seem to find it:

I store a $string to a $filename:

store [$tempstring], $filename2[$m];

I then try to retrieve it:

my $tempinput = retrieve ($filename2[$m]);

I believe I'm just getting the reference, not the string? Can I use a command to convert the data back to the original string?

Solution 
  •  my $ref = [ $tempstring ];

    creates an array, assigns $tempstring to it (placing it in the first element), then returns a reference to that array.

    So if you want the string back, you need to get the value of the first element of the referenced array.

     $ref->[0]

    If you had done

     my $ref = \$tempstring;

    instead of needlessly creating an array, you'd simply do

     $$ref

    to get the string.