[Perl-unix-users] passing array references: to normal and anonymous array's, between functions

[listmail]

This is a code snippet from my program the prints a fixed set of column headings and 
seperators for an array retrieved from a database. The final output for this example 
should be: 

USER       SID,SERIAL  LOGON TIME         MODULE   ACTION         
~~~~       ~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~         ~~~~~~   ~~~~~~     
BILLY BOB  21,14902    08:30:00 04/10/04  XFTRYUI  Main entry form

The program achieves the first part but even after dereferencing for the line data it 
appears I have another reference. Problems have arose because I am trying to 
accomodate the ability to pass references to ~anonymous arrays~ as well. I'm confused 
here and it seems I am making references to references. Do I need to determine the 
type of reference passed to my function and then code accordingly? 

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my @MYDATA=('BILLY BOB','21,14902','08:30:00 04/10/04','XFTRYUI','Main entry form');

&userdat_print([EMAIL PROTECTED]);
               
sub format_output {
    my @maxcollength;
    my $index;
    my ($ary1) = $_[0]; # not understanding what purpose the ( )'s serve on left side 
of this assignment
    my ($ary2) = $_[1];
    
    foreach my $line (@$ary2) {
     $index = 0;
     #debug
     #print "\n--LINE--\n";
     foreach my $column (@$line) {
             $maxcollength[$index] = 0 unless (defined $maxcollength[$index]);
 

             if (length $column > $maxcollength[$index]) {
                 $maxcollength[$index]=length $column;
             }
             #debug
             #print "\nCol: " . length $column;
             #print " Data: $column Max: $maxcollength[$index]\n";                 
             
             $index++;
     }
    }
    $index=0;
    foreach my $headers (@$ary1) {
               $maxcollength[$index]=length($headers)
                     unless (defined ($maxcollength[$index]) && $maxcollength[$index] 
> length($headers));
               $index++;
    }

    my $format = "";
    foreach my $width (@maxcollength) {
               $format .= "  " if ($format);
               $format .= "%-" . $width . "s";
    }
    return $format, @maxcollength;
}

sub userdat_print() {
          my $ary1 = [EMAIL PROTECTED];   #passed [EMAIL PROTECTED] array reference 
but seem to have to reference @_.
                            #$_[0] seems to muck things up for me the way I have 
things coded.
          my @mancols=('USER','SID,SERIAL','LOGON TIME','MODULE','ACTION');
          my  @mansep=('~~~~','~~~~~~~~~~','~~~~~~~~~~','~~~~~~','~~~~~~');
          my ($format,@colsizes)=format_output([EMAIL PROTECTED], $ary1);
          #format_output is fine with $ary1 as is also when called from from other 
subs and being passed
          #anonymous array references, specifically in the second parameter.
          
          print sprintf "$format\n", @mancols;
          print sprintf "$format\n", @mansep;
          print sprintf "$format\n", @$ary1;   #problem area
}



_______________________________________________
Perl-Unix-Users mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/mysubs