my %foo = qw( a 1 b 2 ); my %bar = qw( a 1 b 2 ); %foo = qw( c 3 d 4 ); @bar{qw( c d )} = qw( 3 4 ); print(join(' ', %foo), "\n"); # c 3 d 4 print(join(' ', %bar), "\n"); # a 1 b 2 c 3 d 4