Only showing super-structure: $VAR1 = [ [ 9, 10, 'a big fat hen' ], $VAR1->[0], $VAR1->[0] ]; Showing both sub-structure and super-structure: $VAR1 = [ 9, 10, 'a big fat hen' ]; $VAR2 = [ $VAR1, $VAR1, $VAR1 ];