use Devel::Peek;; $h{ XXX } = 'test';; Dump $h{ XXX };; SV = PV(0x2ab2a0) at 0x3dc99d8 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (POK,pPOK) PV = 0x3e28f98 "test"\0 CUR = 4 LEN = 8 $a[0] = delete $h{ XXX };; Dump $a[ 0 ];; SV = PV(0x2ab2b0) at 0x3dc9978 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (POK,pPOK) PV = 0x3e28f98 "test"\0 CUR = 4 LEN = 8 #### use Devel::Peek;; $h{ XXX } = 'test';; Dump $h{ XXX };; SV = PV(0x11b2a0) at 0x3e199d8 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (POK,pPOK) PV = 0x3e78f98 "test"\0 CUR = 4 LEN = 8 $a[0] = $h{ XXX };; Dump $a[ 0 ];; SV = PV(0x11b2b0) at 0x3e19978 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (POK,pPOK) PV = 0x3e78f68 "test"\0 CUR = 4 LEN = 8 #### C:\test>p1 Perl> print mem;; 9,340 K Perl> $h{ XXX } = 'X' x 100e6;; Perl> print mem;; 107,248 K Perl> $a[ 0 ] = delete $h{ XXX };; Perl> print mem;; 107,308 K Perl>