ref - What kind of reference is this variable?

The ref() function will return the type of the reference it got as a parameter. If no parameter was supplied, it will return the reference type of $_, the default variable of Perl.

According to the documentation, the possible return values of the ref() function are:

SCALAR
ARRAY
HASH
CODE
REF
GLOB
LVALUE
FORMAT
IO
VSTRING
Regexp

Let's see when do we get such values:

Simple scalars

If we pass a simple scalar variable to the ref() function containing undef, a string, or a number, the ref() function will return the empty string:

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $nothing;
my $string = 'abc';
my $number = 42;

say 'nothing:    ', ref $nothing;   #
say 'string:     ', ref $string;    #
say 'number:     ', ref $number;    #
say 'nothing:    ', defined ref $nothing;   # 1
say 'string:     ', defined ref $string;    # 1
say 'number:     ', defined ref $number;    # 1

Reference to SCALAR

If we take the reference to either of the simple scalars, even the one holding undef, the ref() function will return the string SCALAR.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $nothing;
my $string = 'abc';
my $number = 42;

my $nothingref = \$nothing;
my $stringref  = \$string;
my $numberref  = \$number;

say 'nothingref: ', ref $nothingref; # SCALAR
say 'stringref:  ', ref $stringref;  # SCALAR
say 'numberref:  ', ref $numberref;  # SCALAR

Reference to ARRAY and HASH

If we pass an array or a hash to the ref() it will return an empty string, but if we pass a reference to an array, or a reference to a hash, it will return ARRAY, or HASH respectively.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my @arr = (2, 3);
my %h = (
    answer => 42,
);

my $arrayref  = \@arr;
my $hashref   = \%h;

say 'array:      ', ref @arr;       # 
say 'hash:       ', ref %h;         #
say 'arrayref:   ', ref $arrayref;  # ARRAY
say 'hashref:    ', ref $hashref;   # HASH

Reference to CODE

Passing a reference to a subroutine to the ref() function will result in the string CODE.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

sub answer {
     return 42;
}
my $subref    = \&answer;

say 'subref:     ', ref $subref;    # CODE

A reference to a reference: REF

If we have a reference to a reference, and we pass that to the ref() function, it will return the string REF.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $str = 'abc';
my $strref = \$str;
my $refref    = \$strref;
say 'strref:     ', ref $strref;    # SCALAR
say 'refref:     ', ref $refref;    # REF

say 'refrefref:  ', ref \$refref;   # REF

Even if we have a reference to a reference to a reference..... that will be still REF.

Reference to a Regex

The qr operator returns a pre-compiled regular expression, or if you ask the ref() function, then qr returns a reference to a Regexp.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $regex = qr/\d/;
my $regexref = \$regex;
say 'regex:      ', ref $regex;     # Regexp

say 'regexref:   ', ref $regexref;  # REF

Of course if we take a reference to the Regex reference we are back to the REF as above.

Reference to GLOB

A file-handle created by the open function is a GLOB.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

open my $fh, '<', $0 or die;
say 'filehandle: ', ref $fh;        # GLOB

Reference to a FORMAT

I think the format function of Perl fell out of favor by most of the Perl developers and you can rarely see it in the wild. I could not even figure out how to take a reference to it in a simple way, but let me leave the example here as it is. You probably don't need to worry about it.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

format fmt =
   Test: @<<<<<<<< @||||| @>>>>>
.
say 'format:     ', ref *fmt{FORMAT};  # FORMAT

Reference to VSTRING

Version string staring with the letter v, are another rare sighting, even though they are more used than formats:

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $vs = v1.1.1;
my $vsref = \$vs;
say 'version string ref: ', ref $vsref;  # VSTRING

Reference to LVALUE

Lvalue functions are functions that can appear on the left hand side of an assignment. For example if you would like to change the content of a string you can use the 4-parameter version of substr, the 4th parameter being the replacement string, or you can assign that string to the 3-parameter version of substr.

Let's see what happens if we take a reference of a regular, 4-parameter substr call:

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $text = 'The black cat climbed the green tree';
my $nolv = \ substr $text, 14, 7, 'jumped from';
say 'not lvalue:  ', ref $nolv;  # SCALAR
say $nolv;    # SCALAR(0x7f8d190032b8)
say $$nolv;   # climbed
say $text;    # The black cat jumped from the green tree

$$nolv = 'abc';
say $text;    # The black cat jumped from the green tree

The value assigned to the $nolv variable is a regular reference to a scalar containing the value returned by the substr function. The word 'climbed' in this case.

On the other hand, if we take a reference to a 3-parameter substr call (or 2-parameter for that matter), then the returned value that gets assigned to $lv below, is a reference to an LVALUE. If we de-reference it say $$lv;, we can see the original value (the string 'climbed') in it.

If we assign to that dereference $$lv = 'jumped from'; that will change the content of $$lv, but that will also replace the selected part in $text, the original string.

We can repeated this assignment: $$lv = 'abc'; that will change the original string again.

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $text = 'The black cat climbed the green tree';
my $lv = \ substr $text, 14, 7;
say 'lvalue:      ', ref $lv;    # LVALUE
say $lv;                         # LVALUE(0x7f8fbc0032b8)
say $$lv;                        # climbed
say $text;                       # The black cat climbed the green tree

$$lv = 'jumped from';
say $lv;                         # LVALUE(0x7f8fbc0032b8)
say $$lv;                        # jumped from
say $text;                       # The black cat jumped from the green tree

$$lv = 'abc';
say $$lv;                        # abc
say $text;                       # The black cat abc the green tree

Blessed references

As explained elsewhere, in the classic object oriented system of Perl the bless function is used to connect a hash reference to a namespace. (Actually it is the same in Moo and Moose, but there it is mostly hidden from our eyes.)

Anyway, if we call the ref() on a blessed reference, it will return the namespace it has been blessed into:

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $r = {};
say ref $r;              # HASH
bless $r, 'Some::Name';
say ref $r;              # Some::Name

The same even if the underlying reference is not a hash reference:

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.010;

my $r = [];
say ref $r;               # ARRAY
bless $r, 'Class::Name';
say ref $r;               # Class::Name

More

The documentation of perlref has a lot more details about the ref function and about references in general.

Comments

In reference to "Blessed references" it is important to note; that any reference can be blessed in a package not just hash references.