#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; use Clone qw(clone); my $original =[1,2,[3,4,5]]; my $shallow_original=$original; my $deep_original=[@$original]; #deep, but not deep enough!! my $clone_original=clone($original); # this behaves fine. $original->[1]=42; $original->[2][1]=77; print "original: @$original\n"; print "shallow: @$shallow_original\n"; print "deep: @$deep_original\n"; print "shallow[2][1]: $shallow_original->[2][1]\n"; print "deep[2][1]: $deep_original->[2][1]\n"; print "clone[2][1]: $clone_original->[2][1]\n"; #### original: 1 42 ARRAY(0x80cf9a4) shallow: 1 42 ARRAY(0x80cf9a4) deep: 1 2 ARRAY(0x80cf9a4) shallow[2][1]: 77 deep[2][1]: 77 clone[2][1]: 4