#! perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my %hash = ( Fred => 'Wilma', Barney => 'Betty' );
my $ref1 = \%hash;
my $ref2 = { Howard => 'Marion', Richie => 'Lori Beth', Chachi => 'Joanie' };

printf "\$ref1 is a %s\n", ref $ref1;
printf "\$ref2 is a %s\n", ref $ref2;

##</code><code>##

 0:52 >perl 879_SoPW.pl
$ref1 is a HASH
$ref2 is a HASH

 0:52 >