my %argHash = ( abcd => 'efgh', ijkl => 'mnop', ); &first(\%argHash); sub first { my %args = @_; print "$_ => $args->{$_}\n" foreach sort keys %args; &second(%$args, qrst => 'uvwx'); } sub second { my %args = @_; print "$_ => $args{$_}\n" foreach sort keys %args; }