reftype

Return the underlying storage type of a reference, ignoring any class it’s been blessed into.

Synopsis

use attributes 'reftype';
my $t = reftype(\@a);            # 'ARRAY'
my $t = reftype(bless {}, 'X');  # 'HASH'

What you get back

One of SCALAR, ARRAY, HASH, CODE, GLOB, IO, FORMAT, LVALUE, or REGEXP. Returns undef when the argument is not a reference.

Examples

reftype(\1);                      # 'SCALAR'
reftype([1, 2, 3]);               # 'ARRAY'
reftype(sub { });                 # 'CODE'
reftype(bless [], 'Foo');         # 'ARRAY' — blessing is ignored
reftype(42);                      # undef

Edge cases

• Not a reference, including undef: returns undef rather than croaking.

• Called with the wrong number of args: croaks with Usage: attributes::reftype($reference).

Differences from upstream

Fully compatible with upstream. In upstream attributes.pm this name is a typeglob alias for builtin::reftype; this module provides the same behaviour as a direct XS entry.

See also

• get — uses reftype to build FETCH_${type}_ATTRIBUTES.

• _guess_stash — complementary helper for the “which package?” half of the same lookup.