Yes, it populates the hash. You are dereferencing the original hashref, creating a copy and assigning it to a new hash.

If you don't like typing curly brackets, try the arrow syntax ($hashref->{key}). BTW, treating a hashref differently than a regular hash can be considered a good thing when you review old code.

In reply to Re: Hash references and efficiency by jsprat
in thread Hash references and efficiency by Anonymous Monk

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