This is what I do, its a little messy, but when you get the hang of it, works quite well. 
sub db_get {
..
..
    # fetch the rows into an array reference
    while ( $retstat = $sth->fetchrow_hashref ) {      
        push @retval, [$retstat];
    }
..
..
return @retval
}

[download]
To dereference it I do: 
    my $value = $ary[0][0]->{<key>}
    # to Shorten it (so it's not so hard to type) 
    my %short = %{$ary[0][0]};

[download]
As I said, its messy, but it works for me.

In reply to Re: Dereferencing hashrefs by Ryszard
in thread Dereferencing hashrefs by schnarff

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