=over =item values HASH X =item values ARRAY In list context, returns a list consisting of all the values of the named hash. In Perl 5.12 or later only, will also return a list of the values of an array; prior to that release, attempting to use an array argument will produce a syntax error. In scalar context, returns the number of values. Hash entries are returned in an apparently random order. The actual random order is specific to a given hash; the exact same series of operations on two hashes may result in a different order for each hash. Any insertion into the hash may change the order, as will any deletion, with the exception that the most recent key returned by L|/each HASH> or L|/keys HASH> may be deleted without changing the order. So long as a given hash is unmodified you may rely on L|/keys HASH>, L|/values HASH> and L|/each HASH> to repeatedly return the same order as each other. See L for details on why hash order is randomized. Aside from the guarantees provided here the exact details of Perl's hash algorithm and the hash traversal order are subject to change in any release of Perl. Tied hashes may behave differently to Perl's hashes with respect to changes in order on insertion and deletion of items. As a side effect, calling L|/values HASH> resets the HASH or ARRAY's internal iterator (see L|/each HASH>) before yielding the values. In particular, calling L|/values HASH> in void context resets the iterator with no other overhead. Apart from resetting the iterator, C in list context is the same as plain C<@array>. (We recommend that you use void context C for this, but reasoned that taking C out would require more documentation than leaving it in.) Note that the values are not copied, which means modifying them will modify the contents of the hash: for (values %hash) { s/foo/bar/g } # modifies %hash values for (@hash{keys %hash}) { s/foo/bar/g } # same Starting with Perl 5.14, an experimental feature allowed L|/values HASH> to take a scalar expression. This experiment has been deemed unsuccessful, and was removed as of Perl 5.24. To avoid confusing would-be users of your code who are running earlier versions of Perl with mysterious syntax errors, put this sort of thing at the top of your file to signal that your code will work I on Perls of a recent vintage: use v5.12; # so keys/values/each work on arrays See also L|/keys HASH>, L|/each HASH>, and L|/sort SUBNAME LIST>. =back