Hash "pointing to" an array?

[CJason]

Me again!?!?

Question:
I need to associate hash elements to arrays. That is (something like this):

$hash{THIS} -> @array1;
$hash{THAT} -> @array2;

Does that make any sense? Basically, I need to look to see if a hash key exists, if it does, then loop thru the corresponding array.

How would I set something like this up? Or, can someone think of a better way of doing this?

 

[KevinADC]

if (exists $hash{THIS}) {
   foreach my $this (@array1) {
       print "$this\n";
   }
}

Wether that is the best way to go about it depends on what you are doing.

------------------------------------------
- Kevin, perl coder unexceptional!

 

[CJason]

Kevin, how do I associate the $hash{THIS} with @array1? Maybe this will describe it more...in this "code" below:

if (exists($hash($checkthis))) {
  foreach $this ($hash{$checkthis}->@array) {
    print "$this\n";
  }
}

 

[stevexff]

push @{$hash{$checkthis}}, 'stuff'; # automatically create array

$hash{$checkthis} = []; # set it to an empty anonymous array

Steve

[small]"Every program can be reduced by one instruction, and every program has at least one bug. Therefore, any program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work." (Object:erlDesignPatterns)[/small]

 

[CJason]

Steve, that looks like what I'm looking for. Let me add another twist to it...how do I make that array, 2-dimensional?

push @{$hash{$checkthis},1}, 'stuff'; # automatically create array

????

 

[CJason]

I think I got what I'm looking for...does this seem correct:

$array[0][0] = 'stuff';
$hash{THIS} = [@array]; 
print "$hash{THIS}[0][0]\n";

 

[KevinADC]

See the first three tutorials on this page:

http://perldoc.perl.org/index-tutorials.html

perlreftut - Mark's very short tutorial about references
perldsc - data structure complex data structure struct
perllol - Manipulating Arrays of Arrays in Perl

------------------------------------------
- Kevin, perl coder unexceptional!

 

[CJason]

I think I found the datastructure I'm looking for. HoAoA (Hash of Arrays of Arrays)!! Putting all the above examples and tutorials together, I think I've figured it out!

Thanks guys...you again saved my arse!

 

[stevexff]

Good. I always find Data:umper to be a big help on these occasions

use Data::Dumper;
print Dumper(%myReallyComplicatedStructure);

Steve

[small]"Every program can be reduced by one instruction, and every program has at least one bug. Therefore, any program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work." (Object:erlDesignPatterns)[/small]