LPM: record creation in perl

[Steve Lane]

Kenneth Rogers wrote:
> They've created a record '$record' which is an anonymous hash, they claim to be able to make a hash of these records for use
> 
> #store record
> $byname{ $record->{NAME} } = $record;

this is an example of restructuring an already-built hash
into a more-usable form, and from your problem description,
probably not what you want.

> So then in order to make a bunch of these does this mean I need to have a $record that's separate for each one that I want to build?  I'm hoping not I'm trying to make a dynamic system where I can create these records (the one's I'm using have 4 integers and an array that contains integers and characters right now).  The problem I see right now is that I don't know how to just add a new record to '$byname' without completely creating the whole record first, I'd rather be able to say something li
> 
> $byname{$record->{NUMBER} } = { NUMBER => 2,
>    PARENT => 1, BOARD => @board };
> 
> but I can't tell if that's legal ( it doesn't compile but that could be my fault and not that its impossible to do. )

it should compile.  but it's not correct. hash values must be
scalars, and @board is not a scalar.  you'd want to use "[ @board ]"
(a reference to an anonymous list) instead.

> Is there a better way to do this?  Maybe a two dimensional array or somesuch, I can't figure out how to get the data I need packed into a 2D array right now though.

yes.  you're not too far off.  try:

$record{2} = { NUMBER => 2, PARENT => 1, BOARD => [ @board ] };

or, more generally (and formatted),

$record{$number} = {
  NUMBER => $number,
  PARENT => $parent,
  BOARD  => [ @board ],
};

since $record{$number}{BOARD} is a reference, you'll eventually
have to dereference it to get what was @board back out.  here's
one way to do that:

@board = @{ $record{$number}{BOARD} };

good luck, Steve
--
Steve Lane <sml at zfx.com>