Equivalent of "shift" for a hash to create a $class->next() method - perl

Question

I almost feel like saying "it's me again!".
Anyway, here we go.
I like using while $object->next() style constructs. They appeal to me and seem "neat".
Now, when the thing I'm iterating over is an array, it's straightforward ("shift #ary or return undef")
sub next {
my ( $self, $args ) = #_;
my $next = shift #{ $self->{list_of_things} } or return undef;
my ( $car, $engine_size, $color )
= split( /\Q$opts->{fieldsep}/, $next );
$self->car = $host;
$self->engine_size = $engine_size;
$self->color = $color;
}
In this example I use AUTOLOAD to create the getters and setters and then have those instance variables available in my object during the while loop.
I'd like to do something similar but with the "list_of_things" being a %hash.
Here's a non-OO example that doesn't make it into the first iteration. Any ideas why?
(The total "list_of_things" is not that big - maybe 100 entries - so to do a keys(%{$hash}) every time doesn't seem too wasteful to me).
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;
my $list_of_things = {
volvo => {
color => "red",
engine_size => 2000,
},
bmw => {
color => "black",
engine_size => 2500,
},
mini => {
color => "british racing green",
engine_size => 1200,
}
};
sub next {
my $args = $_;
my #list = keys( %{$list_of_things} );
return undef if scalar #list == "0";
my $next = $list_of_things->{ $list[0] };
delete $list_of_things->{ $list[0] };
return $next;
}
while ( next()) {
print Dumper $_;
print scalar keys %{ $list_of_things }
}
Is there a better way of doing this? Am I doing something crazy?
EDIT:
I tried Ikegami's suggestion. Of course, Ikegami's example works flawlessly. When I try and abstract a little, so that all that is exposed to the object is a next->() method, I get the same "perl-going-to-100%-cpu" problem as in my original example.
Here's a non-OO example:
use Data::Dumper qw( Dumper );
sub make_list_iter {
my #list = #_;
return sub { #list ? shift(#list) : () };
}
sub next {
make_list_iter( keys %$hash );
}
my $hash = { ... };
while ( my ($k) = next->() ) {
print Dumper $hash->{$k};
}
It does not seem to get past the first step of the while() loop.
I am obviously missing something here...

Answer 1

If you don't want to rely on the hash's builtin iterator (used by each, keys and values), there's nothing stopping you from making your own.
use Data::Dumper qw( Dumper );
sub make_list_iter {
my #list = #_;
return sub { #list ? shift(#list) : () };
}
my $list_of_things = { ... };
my $i = make_list_iter(keys %$list_of_things);
while (my ($k) = $i->()) {
local $Data::Dumper::Terse = 1;
local $Data::Dumper::Indent = 0;
say "$k: " . Dumper($list_of_things->{$k});
}

Answer 2

The each operator is a builtin that iterates over hashes. It returns undef when it runs out of elements to return. So you could so something like
package SomeObject;
# creates new object instance
sub new {
my $class = shift;
return bless { hash_of_things => { #_ } }, $class
}
sub next {
my $self = shift;
my ($key,$value) = each %{ $self->{hash_of_things} };
return $key; # or return $value
}
Calling keys on the hash will reset the each iterator. It's good to know this so you can reset it on purpose:
sub reset {
my $self = shift;
keys %{ $self->{hash_of_things} }
}
and so you can avoid resetting it on accident.
The section on tie'ing hashes in perltie also has an example like this.

Answer 3

Here's how List::Gen could be used to create an iterator from a list:
use strict;
use warnings;
use List::Gen 'makegen';
my #list_of_things = ( # This structure is more suitable IMO
{
make => 'volvo',
color => 'red',
engine_size => 2000,
},
{
make => 'bmw',
color => 'black',
engine_size => 2500,
},
{
make => 'mini',
color => 'british racing green',
engine_size => 1200,
}
);
my $cars = makegen #list_of_things;
print $_->{make}, "\n" while $cars->next;

Answer 4

Well, if you don't need $list_of_things for later, you can always do something like
while(keys %$list_of_things)
{
my $temp=(sort keys %$list_of_things)[0];
print "key: $temp, value array: " . join(",",#{$list_of_things->{$temp}}) . "\n";
delete $list_of_things->{$temp};
}
And if you do need it, you can always assign it to a temporary hash reference and perform the same while loop on it.