use strict; #Always use Dumpvalue; ###just an example of nested data my @example = ( {'firstname'=>'Justin', 'lastname'=>'Tyme', 'Age'=>'21'}, {'firstname'=>'Ima', 'lastname'=>'Geek','Age'=>'21'} ); dump_ref(\@example);###you need to pass a reference to your data since the dumpValues method only takes references. sub dump_ref { my $ref = shift; my $dumper = new Dumpvalue; $dumper->dumpValues($ref); } ___OUTPUT___ 0 ARRAY(0x80628f0) 0 HASH(0x804c8d4) 'Age' => 21 'firstname' => 'Justin' 'lastname' => 'Tyme' 1 HASH(0x80628b4) 'Age' => 21 'firstname' => 'Ima' 'lastname' => 'Geek' #### $example[1]->{firstname}; #### my @first_elm_keys = keys %{$example[0]};