c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dumper -le "my %fields; %fields = ( version1 => { 1 => 'Ok' }, version_TWO => $fields{version1}, ); print Dumper \%fields; ;; $fields{version1}{1} = 'Oops...'; ;; print $fields{version_TWO}{1}; " $VAR1 = { 'version_TWO' => undef, 'version1' => { '1' => 'Ok' } }; Use of uninitialized value in print at -e line 1.