Perl variables defined with * vs $

Question

What's the difference between defining a variable with a * vs a $? For example:

local $var;
local *var;

Answer 1

The initial character is known as a sigil, and says what sort of value the identifier represents. You will know most of them. Here's a list

• Dollar $ is a scalar value

• At sign @ is an array value

• Percent % is a hash value

• Ampersand & is a code value

• Asterisk * is a typeglob

You are less likely to have come across the last two recently, because & hasn't been necessary when calling subroutines since Perl 5.0 was released. And typeglobs are a special type that contains all of the other types, and are much more rarely used.

I'm considering how much deeper to go into all of this, but will leave my answer as it is for now. I may write more depending on the comments that arise.