lanx@nc10-ubuntu:~$ perl -e '$r={a=>1};print %{$r;},"\n"' a1 lanx@nc10-ubuntu:~$ perl -MO=Deparse,p -e '$r={a=>1};print %{$r;},"\n"' $r = {'a', 1}; print %{$r;}, "\n"; -e syntax OK lanx@nc10-ubuntu:~$ perl -MO=Deparse,p -e 'print %{ $r={a=>1};$r; },"\n"' print %{$r = {'a', 1}; $r;}, "\n"; -e syntax OK lanx@nc10-ubuntu:~$ perl -e 'print %{ $r={a=>1};$r; },"\n"' a1