Associative arrays are a very useful and commonly used feature of Perl.
Associative arrays basically store tables of information where the lookup is the right hand key (usually a string) to an associated scalar value. Again scalar values can be mixed ``types''.
We have already been using Associative arrays for name/value pair input to CGI scripts.
Associative arrays are denoted by a verb| When you declare an associative array the key and associated values are listed in consecutive pairs.
So if we had the following secret code lookup:
name | code |
dave | 1234 |
peter | 3456 |
andrew | 6789 |
%lookup = ("dave", 1234, "peter", 3456, "andrew", 6789);
The reference a particular value you do:
$lookup{"dave"}
You can create new elements by assignments to new keys. E.g.
$lookup{"adam"} = 3845;
You do new assignments to old keys also:
# change dave's code $lookup{"dave"} = 7634;