$ perl -wE '$foo{a}=1; $foo{b}=2; say join",", @foo{qw{a b}}' 1,2 $ perl -wE '$foo{a}=1; $foo{b}=2; say join",", @foo{qw/a b/}' 1,2 $ perl -wE '$foo{a}=1; $foo{b}=2; say join",", @foo{qw(a b)}' 1,2 $ perl -wE '$foo{a}=1; $foo{b}=2; say join",", @foo{qw#a b#}' Scalar value @foo{qw#a b#} better written as $foo{qw#a b#} at -e line 1. 1,2 $