lanx@nc10-ubuntu:~$ perl -MData::Dumper -e ' @h1=(1 => 3, 2 => 5, 3 => 10); %h3=%h2=@h1; print Dumper \%h2,\%h3' $VAR1 = { '1' => 3, '3' => 10, '2' => 5 }; $VAR2 = { '1' => 3, '3' => 10, '2' => 5 };