How can I use hashes as arguments to subroutines in Perl?

Question

I was asked to modify some existing code to add some additional functionality. I have searched on Google and cannot seem to find the answer. I have something to this effect...

%first_hash = gen_first_hash();
%second_hash = gen_second_hash();
do_stuff_with_hashes(%first_hash, %second_hash);

sub do_stuff_with_hashes
{
    my %first_hash = shift;
    my %second_hash = shift;

    # do stuff with the hashes
}

I am getting the following errors:

Odd number of elements in hash assignment at ./gen.pl line 85.
Odd number of elements in hash assignment at ./gen.pl line 86.
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at ./gen.pl line 124.
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at ./gen.pl line 143.

Line 85 and 86 are the first two lines in the sub routine and 124 and 143 are where I am accessing the hashes. When I look up those errors it seems to suggest that my hashes are uninitialized. However, I can verify that the hashes have values. Why am I getting these errors?

Answer 1

The hashes are being collapsed into flat lists when you pass them into the function. So, when you shift off a value from the function's arguments, you're only getting one value. What you want to do is pass the hashes by reference.

do_stuff_with_hashes(\%first_hash, \%second_hash);

But then you have to work with the hashes as references.

my $first_hash  = shift;
my $second_hash = shift;