What does the -> arrow do in Perl?

Question

I keep seeing -> in code and I am not exactly sure what it means. For example:

@top_links = @{$m->links};

What does this line do? Also, where can I maybe read about it?

Answer 1

See The Arrow Operator in perlop:

"->" is an infix dereference operator, just as it is in C and C++. If the right side is either a [...], {...}, or a (...) subscript, then the left side must be either a hard or symbolic reference to an array, a hash, or a subroutine respectively. (Or technically speaking, a location capable of holding a hard reference, if it's an array or hash reference being used for assignment.) See perlreftut and perlref.

Otherwise, the right side is a method name or a simple scalar variable containing either the method name or a subroutine reference, and the left side must be either an object (a blessed reference) or a class name (that is, a package name). See perlobj.