#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

my %hash;

print "'hash' is a hash reference\n" if ref(\%hash) eq 'HASH';

$hash{key} = 'value';
print "'hash' is still a hash reference\n" if ref(\%hash) eq 'HASH';
print "'hash{key}' is a scalar reference\n" if ref(\$hash{key}) eq 'SCALAR';
print "'hash{key}' is a hash reference\n" if ref(\%{$hash{key}}) eq 'HASH';