my @data = ({}) x (3); print Dumper \@data; #### $VAR1 = [ {}, $VAR1->[0], $VAR1->[0] ]; #### $VAR1 = [ {}, {}, {}, ]; #### for (0..2) { print $report->{data}->[$_]->{foo}," => ", $report->{data}->[$_]->{bar},"\n"; }