my %hash;
  $hash{alpha}{state} = eval('$A::alpha_state');
  print '$hash{alpha}{state}=', $hash{alpha}{state}, "\n";

##</code><code>##

our $alpha_state = 'STATE';
our $beta_state = 'state';

our $alpha_country = 'COUNTRY';
our $beta_country = 'country';

my %hash;

# convert yucky legacy variables into nice hashes
for my $k1 qw(alpha beta) {
  for my $k2 qw(country state) {
    $hash{$k1}{$k2} = eval '$'.$k1.'_'.$k2;
  }
}

# print out the hash
for my $k1 (keys %hash) {
  for my $k2 (keys %{$hash{$k1}}) {
    print "$k1,$k2=",$hash{$k1}{$k2},"\n";
  }
}
#outputs
alpha,country=COUNTRY
alpha,state=STATE
beta,country=country
beta,state=state