c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dumper -le "my $hr_same_content = { 1 => 'Ok' }; ;; my %fields = ( version1 => $hr_same_content, version_TWO => $hr_same_content, ); print Dumper \%fields; ;; $fields{version1}{1} = 'Oops...'; ;; print $fields{version_TWO}{1}; " $VAR1 = { 'version_TWO' => { '1' => 'Ok' }, 'version1' => $VAR1->{'version_TWO'} }; Oops...