Might want to try perlreftut because those are actually hash references :)

But here's a quick synopsis that (hopefully) helps (note that this is not complete):

Prepending:

$ - a single item (scalar)
@ - multiple items (array)
% - hash

Accessors:
-> - dereference
[] - array subscript
{} - hash key
[download]

If you work to combine those, then you should be able to access anything wrt hashes/arrays/keys.

e.g. - $var1->{$var2}->[$var3]
would return one element (the prepended $)
from var1
which is a reference (->)
to a hash ( {}'s )
with a key $var2
whose value is a reference (->)
to an array ([]'s)
with an index $var3

I hope that is more helpful than confusing :) The perldocs are much more complete.

This is a rudimentary example, not intended to be 100% complete (fileglobs, lists, etc.) so please don't jump all over it (this addressed to the monastery at large :) )

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