#!perl -w use Data::Dumper; $Data::Dumper::Purity=1; $a = { type => 'int' }; $b = \$a->{type}; print "\n[\$b,\$a]\n"; print Dumper([$b,$a]); eval Dumper([$b,$a]); print "\nevalled [\$b,\$a]\n"; print Dumper($VAR1); print Dumper([$b,$a]) eq Dumper($VAR1) ? "equal\n" : "NOT equal\n"; print "\n[\$a,\$b]\n"; print Dumper([$a,$b]); eval Dumper([$a,$b]); print "\nevalled [\$a,\$b]\n"; print Dumper($VAR1); print Dumper([$a,$b]) eq Dumper($VAR1) ? "equal\n" : "NOT equal\n"; __END__ [$b,$a] $VAR1 = [ \'int', { 'type' => ${$VAR1->[0]} } ]; Use of uninitialized value in scalar dereference at (eval 1) line 4. evalled [$b,$a] $VAR1 = [ \'int', { 'type' => undef } ]; NOT equal [$a,$b] $VAR1 = [ { 'type' => 'int' }, do{my $o} ]; $VAR1->[1] = \$VAR1->[0]{'type'}; evalled [$a,$b] $VAR1 = [ { 'type' => 'int' }, do{my $o} ]; $VAR1->[1] = \$VAR1->[0]{'type'}; equal