use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; use Devel::Peek; my %hash = ( 1e2 => '100', 100 => '100', 0x64 => '100', 0144 => '100', ); print Dumper(\%hash); my $string_eight = '8'; my $numeric_eight = 8; print "\n\$numeric_eight before use with 'eq'\n"; Dump($numeric_eight); if ($string_eight eq $numeric_eight) { print "'eq'\n"; } else { print "not 'eq'\n"; } print "\n\$numeric_eight after use with 'eq'\n"; Dump($numeric_eight); print "\n\$numeric_eight = $numeric_eight\n"; print "\n\$numeric_eight after use in a string (i.e. stringification)\n"; Dump($numeric_eight); if ($string_eight eq $numeric_eight) { print "not 'eq'\n"; } else { print "'eq'\n"; } print "\n\$string_eight then \$numeric_eight after all\n"; Dump($string_eight); Dump($numeric_eight); __END__ $VAR1 = { '100' => '100' }; $numeric_eight before use with 'eq' SV = IV(0x97df82c) at 0x97df830 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADMY,IOK,pIOK) IV = 8 'eq' $numeric_eight after use with 'eq' SV = PVIV(0x97e01b8) at 0x97df830 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADMY,IOK,POK,pIOK,pPOK) <-- note POK is now set IV = 8 PV = 0x97ee168 "8"\0 <-- and there is now a PV, CUR and LEN as well as IV CUR = 1 LEN = 4 $numeric_eight = 8 $numeric_eight after use in a string (i.e. stringification) SV = PVIV(0x97e01b8) at 0x97df830 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADMY,IOK,POK,pIOK,pPOK) IV = 8 PV = 0x97ee168 "8"\0 CUR = 1 LEN = 4 not 'eq' $string_eight then $numeric_eight after all SV = PV(0x98339d8) at 0x98736e8 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK) PV = 0x97e4ba0 "8"\0 CUR = 1 LEN = 4 SV = PVIV(0x97e01b8) at 0x97df830 REFCNT = 1 FLAGS = (PADMY,IOK,POK,pIOK,pPOK) IV = 8 PV = 0x97ee168 "8"\0 CUR = 1 LEN = 4