my %hash_variable_with_not_actually_that_long_name = (one => 1); print $hash_variable_with_not_actually_that_long_name{one}, "\n"; *_ = \%hash_variable_with_not_actually_that_long_name; print $_{one}, "\n"; # output 1 1 #### $_ = 2; print $_, "\n"; *_ = *hash_variable_with_no_actually_that_long_name; print $_{one}, "\n"; print $_, "\n"; # output 2 1 (empty, with 'uninit' warnings under -w)