my %temp = ( "0x55555555" => { "0x55555555" => [ ["0xAAAAAAAA", "0x9"], ], "0xAAAAAAAA" => [ ["0xAAAAAAAA", "0x8"], ], }, "0xAAAAAAAA" => { "0x55555555" => [ ["0xFFFFFFFF", "0x8"], ], "0xAAAAAAAA" => [ ["0x55555554", "0x3"], ], }, ); my $var = \%temp;