perl -e'%hash=(1,"a",2,"b",3,"c"); foreach keys ( %hash ) { print }' Missing $ on loop variable at -e line 1. perl -e'%hash=(1,"a",2,"b",3,"c"); foreach ( %hash ) { print }' 1a3c2b perl -e'%hash=(1,"a",2,"b",3,"c"); foreach $keys ( %hash ) { print $keys }' 1a3c2b perl -e'%hash=(1,"a",2,"b",3,"c"); foreach ( keys %hash) { print }' 132