my $v = { h1 => { k1 => 1, k2 => 2, }, h2 => { k1 => 3, k2 => 4, }, }; my $interest = 'h1'; foreach my $key ( keys %{ $v->{$interest} } ) { print "$key has value $v->{$interest}{$key}\n"; } __END__ k2 has value 2 k1 has value 1