#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; use feature 'say'; use Data::Printer; my %hash = ( alpha1 => [ { beta => { gamma => 'theta', delta => 'lambda', } }, { beta => { gamma => 'zeta', } }, ], alpha2 => [ { beta => { gamma => 'theta', delta => 'lambda', } }, ], ); say "## Original state:"; check_duplication(); push @{ $hash{alpha2} }, { beta => { gamma => 'theta', } }; say "## After pushing another element onto 'alpha2':"; check_duplication(); sub check_duplication { for ( keys %hash ) { if ( scalar @{ $hash{$_} } > 1 ) { say "$_ has a duplicate."; } else { say "$_ is unique."; } } } p %hash;