$aref = []; $href = {}; $sref = \""; 

my $text = 'some text';
my $ref = \$text;
my $blessed = bless($ref, 'ARRAY');

print prt_typ($_) for ( [ $aref, '$aref'],  [ $href, '$href'], 
					[ $sref, '$sref'], [$blessed, '$blessed'], );

sub prt_typ
{
	my ( $rin, $str )  = @{$_[0]};
	print "ref($str) = ", ref($rin), "\n";
	eval { my $x = ${$rin} };
	return "$str is SCALAR\n\n" unless $@;
	eval { my %x = %{$rin} };
	return "$str is HASH\n\n" unless $@;
	eval { my @x = @{$rin} };
	return "$str is ARRAY\n\n" unless $@;
}

##</code><code>##

ref($aref) = ARRAY
$aref is ARRAY

ref($href) = HASH
$href is HASH

ref($sref) = SCALAR
$sref is SCALAR

ref($blessed) = ARRAY
$blessed is SCALAR