Try this:

if(ref($reference) eq 'HASH'){
  print 'Its a HASH reference';
  ## Do Hash processing
}elsif(ref($reference) eq 'ARRAY'){
  print 'Its an ARRAY reference';
  ## Do array processing
}elsif(ref($reference)){
  print 'Its a ' . ref($reference) . ' reference';
  ## Handle invalid reference
}else{
  print "It isn't a reference";
  ## Actual value, not a reference - do something
}
[download]

- Tom