# The sort of result that was no doubt expected: $ perl -e 'use Data::Dumper; my $hr = bless {a=>1}, "H::R"; my $r = $hr; print Dumper $r' $VAR1 = bless( { 'a' => 1 }, 'H::R' ); # Reproduce output with stringification and embedded newline: $ perl -e 'use Data::Dumper; my $hr = bless {a=>1}, "H::R"; my $r = "$hr\n"; print Dumper $r' $VAR1 = 'H::R=HASH(0x800003b78) '; # No bucket allocation ratio for me; also no strict to advise of problem: $ perl -e 'use Data::Dumper; my $hr = bless {a=>1}, "H::R"; my $r = "$hr\n"; print Dumper %$r' # Problem advice when strict is used: $ perl -e 'use strict; use Data::Dumper; my $hr = bless {a=>1}, "H::R"; my $r = "$hr\n"; print Dumper %$r' Can't use string ("H::R=HASH(0x800003b78) ") as a HASH ref while "strict refs" in use at -e line 1.