---
name: "Test2::Tools::Ref"
section: "3perl"
platform: "linux"
package: "perl"
version: "5.44.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Test2::Tools::Ref/3perl"
---

# Test2::Tools::Ref(3perl)

Tools for validating references.

## NAME

Test2::Tools::Ref - Tools for validating references.

## DESCRIPTION

This module contains tools that allow you to verify that something is a ref. It also has tools to check if two refs are the same exact ref, or different. None of the functions in this module do deep comparisons.

## SYNOPSIS

```
    use Test2::Tools::Ref;
    # Ensure something is a ref.
    ref_ok($ref);
    # Check that $ref is a HASH reference
    ref_ok($ref, 'HASH', 'Must be a hash')
    ref_is($refa, $refb, "Same exact reference");
    ref_is_not($refa, $refb, "Not the same exact reference");
```

## EXPORTS

All subs are exported by default.

- ref\_ok($thing)

  - ref\_ok($thing, $type)

  - ref\_ok($thing, $type, $name)

  This checks that `$thing` is a reference. If `$type` is specified then it will check that `$thing` is that type of reference.

- ref\_is($ref1, $ref2, $name)

  Verify that two references are the exact same reference.

- ref\_is\_not($ref1, $ref2, $name)

  Verify that two references are not the exact same reference.

## SOURCE

The source code repository for Test2-Suite can be found at *https://github.com/Test-More/test-more/*.

## MAINTAINERS

- Chad Granum \<exodist@cpan.org\>

  ## AUTHORS

- Chad Granum \<exodist@cpan.org\>

  ## COPYRIGHT

Copyright Chad Granum \<exodist@cpan.org\>.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

See *http://dev.perl.org/licenses/*