Returns a TRUE value if EXPR is a reference, FALSE otherwise. If EXPR is not specified, $_ will be used. The value returned depends on the type of thing the reference is a reference to. Builtin types include:
REF SCALAR ARRAY HASH CODE GLOBIf the referenced object has been blessed into a package, then that package name is returned instead. You can think of ref() as a typeof() operator.
if (ref($r) eq "HASH") { print "r is a reference to a hash.\n"; } if (!ref($r)) { print "r is not a reference at all.\n"; }See also perlref.