my @a = ({},{},{},{}); my @b = ({},0,{},0); my @c = (0,{},0,{}); my @d = ({}); my @e = (); foreach my $x (\@a, \@b, \@c, \@d, \@e) { print @$x == grep({ref($_) eq 'HASH'} @$x),"\n"; }