Q: "my" variables and "no strict 'refs'"

[Daniel Friedman]

The bottom of p.594 in the Camel book (3rd edition) says this:

no strict 'refs';
$name = "variable";
$$name = 7 ; # Sets $variable to 7

....but I don't obtain that if I declare the variables with "my".
Here's my code:

no strict 'refs';
my ($variable, $name);
$variable = 1;
$name = "variable";
$$name = 7; # should set $variable to 7

print "\$variable is $variable\n";

.... and this prints for me:

$variable = 1

I've found the code works fine if I don't declare the variables (with
the "my" line). What am I not understanding here?

(I'm using Perl 5.6.0 on RH7.2, in case it makes a difference.)

Thanks very much,
--daniel

 

[Eric Schwartz]

The bottom of p.594 in the Camel book (3rd edition) says this:

no strict 'refs';
$name = "variable";
$$name = 7 ; # Sets $variable to 7

Don't do that.

...but I don't obtain that if I declare the variables with "my".

Yes, that's correct.

perldoc -q "How can I use a variable as a variable name?"

-=Eric