I have no idea what I did wrong!

I don't either. The code you posted is correct (although the style is a little rough.) I suspect you are doing something else you aren't telling us about if the hash you reference really ends up being what you say. I suggest using Data::Dumper to take a look at what you really have.

Update: I double checked myself. I cut and pasted the code you provided and used Data::Dumper as I suggested. The output was exactly what I expected:

$VAR1 = {
          'foo' => [
                     'bar',
                     'and',
                     'something',
                     'else'
                   ],
          'this' => 'that',
          'somekey' => {
                         'foo' => $VAR1->{'foo'}
                       }
        };
[download]

As you can see, $VAR1->{'foo'} is exactly equal to $VAR1->{'somekey'}{'foo'} as they both refer to the same array. You should, BTW, keep that in mind if you change an element of that array. Do you want $our_hash->{'somekey'}{'foo'} to refer to the same array referred to by $our_hash->{'foo'} or do you want it to refer to an array which is a copy of the one referred to by $our_hash->{'foo'}?

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";