#!/usr/bin/perl

my %hash= ( 'a' => [ 1=>2, 3=>4 ], 'b' => [ 5=>6, 7=>8 ] );

print \%hash," ", $hash{'a'}," ", $hash{'b'},"\n";

my %hash2= %hash;

print \%hash2," ", $hash2{'a'}," ", $hash2{'b'},"\n";

#prints 
HASH(0x8daf70) ARRAY(0x8aee28) ARRAY(0x8cfc10)
HASH(0x8db120) ARRAY(0x8aee28) ARRAY(0x8cfc10)