Args: HASH(0x18241f8) | deep | fish | tuna Key = deep Adding/using 'deep' of existing hash. Args: SCALAR(0x224fa4) | fish | tuna Key = fish Adding 'fish' to new hash: HASH(0x1890b98) Args: SCALAR(0x1890ba4) | tuna Value = 'tuna' Args: HASH(0x18241f8) | deep | deeper | fish | halibut Key = deep Adding/using 'deep' of existing hash. Args: REF(0x224fa4) | deeper | fish | halibut Dereferencing REF(0x224fa4) to get HASH(0x1890b98) Key = deeper Adding/using 'deeper' of existing hash. Args: SCALAR(0x1890bb0) | fish | halibut Key = fish Adding 'fish' to new hash: HASH(0x18af2c0) Args: SCALAR(0x18af2cc) | halibut Value = 'halibut' The resulting leaves are: 'tuna' and 'halibut' Dump: { deep => { deeper => { fish => "halibut" }, fish => "tuna" } }