Perl function knowing receiver type

Question

I have a text file, and a function to retrieve from that text file:

@thefile = read_file( 'somepathfile' );

I would like to have a different implementation of the read_file function depending on which type is receiving the information.

So if I write:

%thefile = read_file( 'somepathfile' );

then a different function will be executed.

How do I do that?

Answer 1

While draegtun's answer illustrates a nice technique, I am going to recommend clarity. For example:

@thefile = read_file_lines( 'somepathfile' );

%thefile = read_file_pairs( 'somepathfile' );