Are you just looking to get a handle on dereferencing? If so, perhaps this will help: $reponse is a reference to a hash - a hash "thingy". $array_of_responses is an array "thingy". Perhaps the simplest way to get your head around it is to think of it like this:

my ($response,$array_of_responses) = whoisip_query($ip);

%resp_hash = %$response; 
@resp_array = @$array_of_responses;
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At this point you have the regular ol' hash and array like you're used to dealing with. Now, of course, you could have skipped the additional assignment and done things in a more direct manner, working with the de-referenced hash and array rather than copying them like I did, but this slightly more verbose manner is the way I was first able to understand references and de-referencing.

HTH.