use Data::Dumper;
my %vars = ( _recNo => 3 );
my @db;
(undef) = $db[$vars{_recNo}]{'name'};
print Dumper \@db;

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = [
          undef,
          ${\$VAR1->[0]},
          ${\$VAR1->[0]},
          {}
        ];