Retrieving items from an array of hashes

[tobhut]

Hello! Hope someone can help! I'm having a nightmare navigating an array of hashes. I'm using the Perl Twitter Module - http://search.cpan.org/~cthom/Net-Tw...Net/Twitter.pm . Running this script...

[CODE=perl]#!/usr/bin/perl

use Net::Twitter;
use Data::Dumper;

print "Content-type: text/plain\n\n";

my $twit = Net::Twitter->new(username=> "username", password=>"pass word" );
$result = $twit->replies();

print Dumper($result) ;[/CODE]

I get:

$VAR1 = [
          {
            'source' => 'web',
            'truncated' => bless( do{\(my $o = 0)}, 'JSON::XS::Boolean' ),
            'created_at' => 'Thu Feb 21 02:27:32 +0000 2008',
            'text' => 'Test Text',
            'user' => {
                        'location' => undef,
                        'profile_image_url' => 'http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png',
                        'protected' => $VAR1->[0]{'truncated'},
                        'name' => 'myname',
                        'description' => undef,
                        'url' => undef,
                        'id' => 123456,
                        'screen_name' => 'myscreenname'
                      },
            'id' => 123123123
          },
          {
            'source' => 'web',
            'truncated' => $VAR1->[0]{'truncated'},
            'created_at' => 'Thu Feb 21 01:18:55 +0000 2008',
            'text' => 'Test Text',
            'user' => {
                        'location' => undef,
                        'profile_image_url' => 'http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png',
                        'protected' => $VAR1->[0]{'truncated'},
                        'name' => 'myname',
                        'description' => undef,
                        'url' => undef,
                        'id' => 123456,
                        'screen_name' => 'myscreenname'
                      },
            'id' => 123123123
          },
		]

I have no idea how to parse this, I can't even pull any items out. Should by $result even be a scalar? Please please help!

Really appreciate it,
Stuart

[KevinADC]

Do this, instead of:

print Dumper($result) ;

try this:

print Dumper(\$result );

and repost what gets printed. Sometimnes its a little hard to tell what the underlying data structure is if you do not pass a reference to the Dumper() function. But it does look like a hash of hash references.

[tobhut]

Thanks for this! Really appreciate it. Here you go:

$VAR1 = \[
            {
              'source' => 'web',
              'truncated' => bless( do{\(my $o = 0)}, 'JSON::XS::Boolean' ),
              'created_at' => 'Thu Feb 21 01:27:32 +0000 2008',
              'text' => 'Test Text',
              'user' => {
                          'location' => undef,
                          'profile_image_url' => 'http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png',
                          'protected' => ${$VAR1}->[0]->{'truncated'},
                          'name' => 'myname',
                          'description' => undef,
                          'url' => undef,
                          'id' => 123456,
                          'screen_name' => 'myscreenname'
                        },
              'id' => 123123123
            },
            {
              'source' => 'web',
              'truncated' => ${$VAR1}->[0]->{'truncated'},
              'created_at' => 'Thu Feb 21 00:18:55 +0000 2008',
              'text' => 'Test Text',
              'user' => {
                          'location' => undef,
                          'profile_image_url' => 'http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png',
                          'protected' => ${$VAR1}->[0]->{'truncated'},
                          'name' => 'myname',
                          'description' => undef,
                          'url' => undef,
                          'id' => 123456,
                          'screen_name' => 'myscreenname'
                        },
              'id' => 123123123
            }
		];

[Kelicula]

Thanks for this! Really appreciate it. Here you go:

$VAR1 = \[
            {
              'source' => 'web',
              'truncated' => bless( do{\(my $o = 0)}, 'JSON::XS::Boolean' ),
              'created_at' => 'Thu Feb 21 01:27:32 +0000 2008',
              'text' => 'Test Text',
              'user' => {
                          'location' => undef,
                          'profile_image_url' => 'http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png',
                          'protected' => ${$VAR1}->[0]->{'truncated'},
                          'name' => 'myname',
                          'description' => undef,
                          'url' => undef,
                          'id' => 123456,
                          'screen_name' => 'myscreenname'
                        },
              'id' => 123123123
            },
            {
              'source' => 'web',
              'truncated' => ${$VAR1}->[0]->{'truncated'},
              'created_at' => 'Thu Feb 21 00:18:55 +0000 2008',
              'text' => 'Test Text',
              'user' => {
                          'location' => undef,
                          'profile_image_url' => 'http://static.twitter.com/images/default_profile_normal.png',
                          'protected' => ${$VAR1}->[0]->{'truncated'},
                          'name' => 'myname',
                          'description' => undef,
                          'url' => undef,
                          'id' => 123456,
                          'screen_name' => 'myscreenname'
                        },
              'id' => 123123123
            }
		];

As far as I can see $VAR1 is an anonymous array, holding nested hash references with it.

As you can see this whole thing is deeply tied into references.
I recommend reading this Refernces
and This: Better Tutorial

Say for instance you wanted to get at the "id" field within the first element of the $VAR1 array;

$VAR1->[0]->{id};

123123123.

Or the "user" within the first hash within the first array element;

$VAR->[0]->{user}->{id};

123456.


This will print out everything but the blessed object references. (And thier references) :)



[code=perl]
use strict;

for(@$VAR1){ # For each element of the array ref $VAR1
if(ref($_) eq 'HASH'){ # if that element is a hash ref
for my $q (sort keys %$_){ # for each element of that hash
if(ref($$_{$q}) eq 'HASH'){ # if that element is a hash
print $q.":\t"; # print the key
for my $s (sort keys %{$$_{$q}}){ # for each element of that hash
print "$s : ${$$_{$q}}{$s}\ n\t"; # print the key and value
}
}else{ # print the key values
print "$q : $$_{$q}\n";
} }
print "\n--------\n"; # print a separator
}
elsif(ref($_) eq 'ARRAY'){ # this doesn't happen, just put it in there for robustness
for(@$_){ # if the current value of $_ was an array
print;
}
}
else{ # if $_ was a scalar print it too..
print;
}
}

[/code]
The above code will output:
[code=text]
created_at : Thu Feb 21 01:27:32 +0000 2008
id : 123123123
source : web
text : Test Text
truncated : JSON::XS::Boole an=SCALAR(0x360 3c)
user: description :
id : 123456
location :
name : myname
profile_image_u rl : http://static.twitter. com/images/default_profile _normal.png
protected :
screen_name : myscreenname
url :

--------
created_at : Thu Feb 21 00:18:55 +0000 2008
id : 123123123
source : web
text : Test Text
truncated :
user: description :
id : 123456
location :
name : myname
profile_image_u rl : http://static.twitter. com/images/default_profile _normal.png
protected :
screen_name : myscreenname
url :

--------
[/code]

As you can see there are still some values that need accessing.
But I had NO luck getting at the '0' value of the blessed object $o;
Or the pointer to it "protected" .

Man there are enough references in this to make anyones head spin.
What are you trying to accomplish?

Maybe there's another way to do it.

After all, TMTOWTDI.

[KevinADC]

Just concurring, looks like an array of anonymous hashes (or nested hashes as Kelicula said). The links Kelicula posted should help you as well as what he posted.