my %test;
$test{a}[2]{b} = 'Hello';

# %test now contains:
#   ( a => [ undef,
#            undef,
#            { b => "Hello" } ] )

##</code><code>##

if (!$hoh{$c1}{count}) { $hoh{$c1}{count} = 5; }   # verbose form

##</code><code>##

$hoh{$c1}{count} ||= 5;   # shortcut