Assign the shift to an array ref instead of an array: 
my $entry = shift(@{@datastructure{'foo'}});   # it's an anrray ref
print $_ for @$entry;    # dereference it to get the array

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As you demonstrated w/Data::Dumper, You have a HoAoA .. note that by "array" it really is an array ref, which Dumper shows by using [ ] instead of ( ). So the first element of foo's array is an array ref ..

A pointer w/using Data::Dumper -- always pass it a an array ref or hash ref instead of just an array or hash .. In this case it would have made the contents of @entry clearer (and Dumper(\%datastructure) would better illustrate the hashing): 
Dumper(\@entry);
$VAR1 = [
          [
            'foo01',
            'foo02'
          ]
        ];

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In reply to Re: Data structures problem by davidrw
in thread Data structures problem by MrFlibble

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