sub function
{
my %operating_systems = &populate_hash(%operating_systems);
do_something_with_hash();
}
sub populate_hash
{
my %operating_systems = ?????;
$operating_systems{"microsoft"} = "Windows";
$operating_systems{"apple"} = "Macintosh";
...
return %operating_systems;
}
What should the ????? be? If it was an array, it would be @_; if it
was a scalar, it would be
my ($scalar) = @_, $_[0], or shift; How about with a hash?
Generally you would pass hash's reference to a subroutine,and the same
return hash's reference from the subroutine.
The example codes look like:
sub function {
my %hash = ('a' => 1, 'b' => 2);
# here pass \%hash (a reference to hash) as parameter to the subroutine
my $hash_ref = populate_hash(\%hash);
}
sub populate_hash {
# here accept the hash's reference as parameter from the caller
my $hash_ref = shift;
# access and modify the hash via its reference
$hash_ref->{'a'} = 3;
# return the reference
return $hash_ref;
}
Hope it help.
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