C:\test>874313 { File => { Header => { Contents => { Dictionary => {}, Flags => {}, Properties => {} }, Key => { value => "physical" }, Precision => { Dec => { value => 1 }, Units => { value => "mil" } }, Revision => { "log" => { value => 0 }, oth => { value => 0 }, phy => { value => 0 } }, Version => { value => "1.0" }, }, value => "\"foo\"", }, } my $hash = { File => { Header => { Contents => { Flags => {}, Dictionary => {}, Properties => {} }, Key => { value => "phy", }, Precision => { Units => { value => "mil" }, Dec => { value => 1 } } Revision => { log => { value => 0 }, phy => { value => 0 }, oth => { value => 0 } }, Version => { value => 1.0, }, } value => "foo", } };