No hash can really store complex data structures, they can store references to them, which is why when SDBM_File serializes the data structure, what gets stored as a value instead of a reference is its string value (print [] prints ARRAY(0x225240), but $a="ARRAY(0x225240)"; is not an array reference).
What you should investigate is MLDBM (pay attention to the BUGS ).
it tells me that 'key' is a ref to an array
No it doesn't. `perldoc -f ref'

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In reply to Re: SDBM_File and complex data structures by PodMaster
in thread SDBM_File and complex data structures by muba

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