use strict; #for better practice use warnings;#same as above my @test = ( qw / bing bong bang / ); print '['.$test[2].'] ['.$test[1].'] ['.$test[0]."]\n"; my %bits;#explicitly declare your variables $bits{'one'}= \@test;#assign the array ref, not the flattened array itself. my @new = @{$bits{'one'}};#now deref it, so you get the flattened array back. print '['.$new[2].'] ['.$new[1].'] ['.$new[0]."]\n";