ref EXPR
ref Returns a non-empty string if EXPR is a reference, the empty
string otherwise. If EXPR is not specified, $_ will be used. The
value returned depends on the type of thing the reference is a
reference to. Builtin types include:
SCALAR
ARRAY
HASH
CODE
REF
GLOB
LVALUE
If the referenced object has been blessed into a package, then
that package name is returned instead. You can think of "ref" as
a "typeof" operator.
if (ref($r) eq "HASH") {
print "r is a reference to a hash.\n";
}
unless (ref($r)) {
print "r is not a reference at all.\n";
}
if (UNIVERSAL::isa($r, "HASH")) { # for subclassing
print "r is a reference to something that isa hash.\n";
}
See also perlref.