my %set = ( a => undef, b => undef ); $set{c} = undef; foreach my $element ( keys %set ) { printf "element '$element' at %s\n", \$set{$element}; } __END__ element 'c' at SCALAR(0x504ee0) element 'a' at SCALAR(0x504290) element 'b' at SCALAR(0x504410)