My interpretation of what you are looking for is : 
my %stacks;

my $CurrentArrayRef = $Stacks{nonexistant} || []; 
# Line above CREATES a ref to an empty array if the stack was undefine
+d.
#It returns a ref to the contents if there were any.

push @$CurrentArrayRef, "New Value"; 
 ... more code ...

# Now (re)store the contents into the stack
$Stacks{nonexistant} = $CurrentArrayRef;

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In reply to Re: creating defined references to arrays of size zero by NetWallah
in thread creating defined references to arrays of size zero by spieper

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