for $i ( 0 .. $#AoH ){ #I get this, for 0 - the total members count in the array of hashes for $role ( keys %{ $AoH[$i] } ) { # new variable $role defined to hold the keys print "elt $i $role is $AoH[$i]{$role}\n"; # print the hash index# the hash reference? is (value of $role) for that index? } }