use warnings; use strict; use Data::Dumper; sub test (\%); my %Record1 = ( username => '$' , password => '$' , emailAddress => '@' ); my $hashref = \%Record1; $hashref->{username} = 'NOOoooooo!'; &test( $hashref ); sub test (\%) { my $reference = shift; my $test = "Pigsy's Perfect Ten"; $reference->{username} = $test; print $reference->{username}, "\n"; } print $Record1{username}, "\n";