use Data::Dumper; my $load = { foo => 123 }; my $dumper = Data::Dumper->new([$load],[qw($load)]); print $dumper->Dump(); # $load = { 'foo' => 123 }; print $dumper->Dump(); # $load = $load; $dumper->Reset; print $dumper->Dump(); # $load = { 'foo' => 123 };