Passing an array into Perl subroutine

Question

I have a subroutine that should take an array as input, make it into a CSV, and POST it to a URL. Here's what I've got so far:

An example array:

[   2823383062, 1411691539,   1411691541,        'outgoing',
    'SIP/fr',   'user@2000',  '2000',            'SIP/2000-000000a2',
    undef,      '6125551234', 'SIP/fr-000000a3', undef,
    undef,      8,            'Answered',        2,
    1,          'nada'
];

The subroutine:

sub send_http {
    my @http = @_;
    my $h    = LWP::UserAgent->new;
    $h->timeout(15);
    $h->agent(undef);

    my $testkey = "1234";
    my $apikey  = "4567";

    my $posting;
    foreach my $v ( \@http ) {
        if ( defined $v ) {
            $posting = join( ',', $posting, $v );
        } else {
            $posting = join( ',', $posting, "" );
        }
    }

    my $api_response = $h->post( 'http://url.com/v1/post.cfm',
        [ key => $testkey, method => 'pushCalls', rawdata => $posting ] );
}

Forgive all the horrible things I've done; this is my first time using Perl and I'm still learning all sorts of stuff. My issue is that I can't seem to get the values from the array I pass into it past the first array variable declaration (@http). I've read something about getting a reference of the array, but am not sure where/how to do so. Any help is appreciated.

Edit: Here's the entire script. It does (or should) two things; send some string of data to a TCP socket, and some other data gets POST'ed to a URL. Thanks everyone for your help.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use EV;
use Asterisk::AMI;
use Net::Telnet;
use HTTP::Request::Common;
use LWP::UserAgent;
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my %call;

my $t = new Net::Telnet (
  Timeout => 10,
  Port => '1234',
  Telnetmode => 1
);

my $astman = Asterisk::AMI->new(PeerAddr => '127.0.0.1',
  PeerPort => '5038',
  Username => 'secret',
  Secret => 'user',
  Events => 'on',
  Handlers => {  
#   default => \&eventhandler,
    Dial => \&dialcheck,
    Bridge => \&bridgecheck,
    Newchannel => \&newchannel,
    Newexten => \&newexten,
    Hangup => \&hangup,
    Newstate => \&outring
  }        
);

die "Unable to connect to asterisk" unless ($astman);

sub send_pos {
  my ($pos_string,$telnet) = @_;

  $telnet->open('127.0.0.1');
  printf $t $pos_string;
  $telnet->close()
}

sub send_http {
  my $http = shift; #@_;
  my $h = LWP::UserAgent->new;
    $h->timeout(15);
    $h->agent(undef);

  my $testkey = "1234";
  my $apikey = "5678";

  my $posting;
  foreach my $v ( @http ) {
    if ( defined $v ) {
      $posting = join(',', $posting,$v);
    } else {
      $posting = join(',', $posting,"");
    }
  }

  my $api_response = $h->post( 'http://url.com/v1/post.cfm',[key => $testkey,method => 'pushCalls',rawdata => $posting]);
}

sub eventhandler { 
  #   Default event handler, not used
  my ($ami, $event) = @_; 
  print 'Got Event: ',$event->{'Event'},"\r\n";
}

sub newchannel {
  my ($ami, $event) = @_;
  my $unique_id = $event->{'Uniqueid'};

  if ( not exists $call{$unique_id} ) {
    my $this_call = $call{$unique_id};

  if ( (not defined $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3]) ) {# || ($this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] !~ /incoming|outgoing/) ) {
    if ( $event->{'Context'} =~ /from-trunk/ ) {
      #   Call is inbound
      $this_call->{'caller_name'} = $event->{'CallerIDName'};
      $this_call->{'caller_number'} = substr $event->{'CallerIDNum'}, -10;
      $this_call->{'dnis'} = substr $event->{'Exten'}, -10;
      $this_call->{'status'} = "remote";
      $this_call->{'holdstart'} = time();

      # Data required for Gravity Free
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[0] = int($event->{'Uniqueid'})+int(time());
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] = "incoming";
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[5] = $event->{'CallerIDName'};
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[6] = substr $event->{'CallerIDNum'}, -10;
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[7] =  $event->{'Channel'};
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[11] = substr $event->{'Exten'}, -10; 

      #  Can't remember why this is here:
      $call{$unique_id} = $this_call;

    } elsif ( $event->{'Context'} =~ /from-internal/ ) {
      #   Call is outbound
      #   Separate from calls to stations
      if( length($event->{'CallerIDNum'}) < length($event->{'Exten'}) ) {
          $this_call->{'status'} = "remote";
          #   Data required for Gravity Free
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[0] = int($event->{'Uniqueid'})+int(time());
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[9] = substr $event->{'Exten'}, -10;
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] = "outgoing";
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[6] = $event->{'CallerIDNum'};
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[5] = $event->{'CallerIDName'};

          $call{$unique_id} = $this_call;
      } elsif ( length($event->{'CallerIDNum'}) == length($event->{'Exten'}) ) {
        #   Call is station to station
        $this_call->{'status'} = "station-to-station";
      }
    }
  }
}
}

sub newexten {
  my ($ami, $event) = @_;
  my $unique_id = $event->{'Uniqueid'};
  my $this_call = $call{$unique_id};

  #   Handles inbound calls only
  if ( defined $this_call->{'status'} && $this_call->{'status'} ne "station-to-station" ) {
    #   Call is not station to station
    #   Check if the DID has been defined
    if ( not defined $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[13] ) {
      if ( $event->{'Context'} eq 'ext-group' ) {
        # Data required for Gravity Free
        $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[13] = $event->{'Extension'};
      }
    }
  }
}

sub dialcheck {
  my ($ami, $event) = @_;
  my $unique_id = $event->{UniqueID};

  if ( exists $call{$unique_id} ) {
    my $this_call = $call{$unique_id};

    if ( defined $this_call->{'status'} && $this_call->{'status'} ne "station-to-station" ) {
      #   Call is not station to station
      if ( $event->{'SubEvent'} eq 'Begin' && $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] =~ "incoming" ) {
        #   Call is inbound
        $this_call->{'system_extension'} = $event->{'Dialstring'};
        $this_call->{'dest_uniqueid'}  = $event->{'DestUniqueID'};

        # Data required for Gravity Free
        $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[4] = $1 if $event->{'Channel'} =~ /(.+(?=\-\w+)).*/;

        #   Telnet data to Prodigy  
        my $sending = "R|$this_call->{'caller_name'}|$this_call->{'caller_number'}|$this_call->{'system_extension'}||$this_call->{'dnis'}|";
        send_pos($sending,$t);

        $this_call->{'status'}  = "ringing";
      } elsif ( $event->{SubEvent} eq 'Begin' && $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] =~ "outgoing" ) {
        #   Call is outbound
        #   Data required for Gravity Free
        $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[4] = $1 if $event->{'Destination'} =~ /(.+(?=\-\w+)).*/;
        $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[10] = $event->{'Destination'};
        $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[7] = $event->{'Channel'};
      }
    }
  }
}

sub outring {
  my ($ami, $event) = @_;
  my $unique_id = $event->{'Uniqueid'};
  my $this_call = $call{$unique_id};

  if ( defined $this_call->{'status'} && $this_call->{'status'} ne "station-to-station" ) {
    #   Call is not station to station  
    if ( not defined $this_call->{'holdstart'} && $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] eq "outgoing" ) {
      #   Call is outbound
      $this_call->{'holdstart'} = time();
    }
  }
}

sub bridgecheck {
  my ($ami, $event) = @_;
  my $unique_id = $event->{'Uniqueid1'};
  my $this_call = $call{$unique_id};

  if ( defined $this_call->{'status'} && $this_call->{'status'} ne "station-to-station" ) {
    #   Call is not station to station
    if ( $event->{'Bridgestate'} eq "Link" && length($event->{'CallerID2'}) <= 4 ) {
      #   Call is inbound
      $this_call->{'dest_uniqueid'}  = $event->{Uniqueid2};

      # Data required for Gravity Free
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1] = time();
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[10] = $event->{Channel2};

      my $sending = "A|$this_call->{caller_name}|$this_call->{caller_number}|$event->{CallerID2}||$this_call->{dnis}|";
      send_pos($sending,$t);

      $this_call->{'status'}  = "answered";

    } elsif ( $event->{'Bridgestate'} eq "Link" && length($event->{'CallerID2'}) >= 4 ) {
      #   Call is outbound
        $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1] = time();
        $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[13] = $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1]-$this_call->{holdstart};
    }
  }
}


sub hangup {
  my ($ami, $event) = @_;
  my $unique_id = $event->{'Uniqueid'};
  my $this_call = $call{$unique_id};

  if ( defined $this_call->{'status'} && not defined $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[16] && $this_call->{'status'} ne "station-to-station" ) {
    #   Call is not station to station
    if ( $event->{'Cause-txt'} eq "Normal Clearing" ) {
      #   Call was hungup normally
      $this_call->{'dest_uniqueid'}  = $event->{Uniqueid};
      #   Call has ended, get date/time
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[2] = time();
      #   Mark call 'completed'
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[16] = 1;
      #   Set notes to nothing
      $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[17] = 'nada';

      if ( defined $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] && $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] eq "incoming") {
        #   Call was inbound
        if ( defined $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1] ) {
          #   Call was answered
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[13] = $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1]-$this_call->{holdstart};
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[14] = "Answered";
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[15] = $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[2]-$this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1];
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[8] = $event->{'ConnectedLineName'};
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[9] = substr $event->{'ConnectedLineNum'}, -10;

          #   POST data to gravity free
          send_http(\$this_call->{'gravityfree'});

        } else {
          #   Call was abandoned
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[14] = "Abandoned";
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[13] = $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[2]-$this_call->{holdstart};
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[15] = 0;

          #   POST data to gravity free
          send_http(\$this_call->{'gravityfree'});
        }

      } elsif ( defined $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] && $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[3] eq "outgoing" ) {
        #   Call is outbound
        if ( defined $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1] ) {
          #   Call was bridged at some point
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[15] = $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[2]-$this_call->{'gravityfree'}[1];
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[14] = "Answered";

          #   POST data to gravity free
          send_http(\$this_call->{'gravityfree'});
        } else {
          #   Call was hung up before anyone answered
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[15] = 0;
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[14] = "Abandoned";
          $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[13] = $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[2]-$this_call->{holdstart};

          #   POST data to gravity free
          send_http(\$this_call->{'gravityfree'});
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

EV::loop

Answer 1

First question, where are you getting the array you're passing into the subroutine? I ask because your example array is actually an array reference.

That is:

@array = (1, 2, 3);  # This is an array
$ref   = [1, 2, 3];  # This is an array reference

If you want to pass an array reference to your subroutine, change the beginning to:

sub send_http {
my $http = shift;

Next, let us consider how to iterate over the elements of an array. This is the proper way to do so:

foreach my $element ( @array ) { 
  # do stuff ...
}

When you do \@ on an array, you are actually creating a reference to the array. Thus, if you truly are passing an array to your subroutine, you should change your loop to the following:

foreach my $v ( @http ) {

However, if you decide to pass your array as a reference, you can dereference the pointer and iterate over its elements like this:

foreach my $v ( @$http ) {

Hope this helps!

EDIT: For the newly uploaded code...

You're very close but we have a couple of small issues:

$this_call->{'gravityfree'} is actually already an array reference, I'm not certain why it's allowing you to address the array elements with $this_call->{'gravityfree'}[INDEX], so perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can enlighten us all. I will note that the correct way to deference an array is the following:

\@{$this_call->{'gravityfree'}}

Regardless, you can simply pass the reference to your subroutine, no need to create a reference. That is:

send_http($this_call->{'gravityfree'});

Now, inside of your subroutine, you have an array reference. You are correctly reading the subroutine argument, but you need to dereference the reference in your foreach loop. Like so:

foreach my $v ( @$http ) {
  # ... loop body
}

Does this make sense? Please let me know if anything is unclear (or not working!)

Answer 2

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to do but everything depends on how you pass the array to your subroutine. You have two choices, either pass it as an array:

send_http(@array)

or as a reference to an array:

send_http(\@array)

As others have noted, your array is already a reference since you're defining it in square brackets [ ].

Which one you want will depend on what exactly you're doing but the syntax is different. To pass an array and iterate through it:

sub send_http {
my @http = @_;
  foreach my $v (@http) {
      print "v is $v\n";
 }
}
my @aa=("cc","dd");
send_http(@aa);

To pass a reference and iterate through the array it points to:

sub send_http {
 ## Remove the first value from the @_ array.
 my $http = shift @_;
 ## Dereference it to an array. You could also use @{$http}
 foreach my $v (@$http) {
      print "v is $v\n";
 }
}

my @aa=("cc","dd");
send_http(\@aa);

The main difference is that when you use send_http(\@aa); what you're passing is not an array so you can't treat it as one. It is instead a reference to an array. Something like

send_http(ARRAY(0x1d34030));

So, the contents of @_ are just a single reference, ARRAY(0x1d34030). To treat it as an array, you need to dereference it to get to what it points to.

Answer 3

So, into your send_http, the argument you received is array_ref which is scalar variable, so when you used it you need to dereference to the right type.

NB: square bracket is array_reference

So, please change as below:

my $http = shift;

And please use that as :

foreach my $v ( @$http ) {

Example:

my $array_ref = [1,2,3];
print "Reference: ", $array_ref,"\n";
print "Array: ", @$array_ref,"\n";

Output:

Reference: ARRAY(0x7f8e1c004ee8)
Array: 123