use strict;
use warnings;

my $this_key = "NOT_IN_HASH";
my $hash_ref = {};

my @items;

if (0) {
    # this gives no error
    @items = map { $_->{value} } @{$hash_ref->{$this_key}};
} else {
    # but this generates to the expected error.
    @items =                     @{$hash_ref->{$this_key}};
}