*{$AUTOLOAD} vs *$AUTOLOAD

[J Krugman]

I frequently see statements like

*{$AUTOLOAD} = \&foobar; # under no strict 'refs'

but I don't understand the need for curly brackets in the LHS
expression. Why not simply

*$AUTOLOAD = \&foobar;

?

TIA!

jill

 

[Tassilo v. Parseval]

Also sprach J Krugman:

I frequently see statements like

*{$AUTOLOAD} = \&foobar; # under no strict 'refs'

but I don't understand the need for curly brackets in the LHS
expression. Why not simply

*$AUTOLOAD = \&foobar;

?

These two statements are equivalent. Note however that the canonical
syntax for a dereference operation is this:

SIGIL := '$' | '%' | '@' | '*'
DEREF := SIGIL '{' EXPRESSION '}'

The curlies can be omitted iff EXPRESSION is a simple scalar which is
the case in your example. If EXPRESSION is a not a scalar variable the
curlies are required.

It's then up to an author's personal preference whether to use the
shortcut or not.

Tassilo