package Refs { my $data1 = [qw[ one won ]]; my $data2 = [qw[ two too to ]]; push @$data2, $data1; push @$data1, $data2; open my $FH, '>', \ our $file; local $Data::Dumper::Varname = 'data'; local $Data::Dumper::Purity = 1; print {$FH} Data::Dumper::Dumper($data1, $data2); close $FH; Testing::recursive_data($data1, $data2); } package RefsBack { my ($data1, $data2); open my $FH, '<', \ $Refs::file; eval do { local $/; <$FH> }; Testing::recursive_data($data1, $data2); }