Okay, cool that worked. I guess I just don't really conceptually get why the first iteration works but after that I get a shallow copy.

I think the reason why I am confused is because this works and it seems to be the same concept (to me): 

my $data1 = [
        { "shape" => "round", "food" => "apple" },
        { "shape" => "square", "food" => "pear" },
        { "shape" => "oval", "food" => "grape" },
];

my $test  = $data1;
my $test2 = $test;
my $test3 = $test2;

print Dumper($test3);

[download]
Update: Or an even better example of why I am confused: 
my $data1 = [
        { "shape" => "round", "food" => "apple" },
        { "shape" => "square", "food" => "pear" },
        { "shape" => "oval", "food" => "grape" },
];

foreach (0..5) {
        my $copy = $data1;
        print Dumper($copy);
}

[download]
Update: And yet an even better example... why the heck does this work and not the previous examples? 
use Data::Dumper;

my $data1 = [
        { "shape" => "round", "food" => "apple" },
        { "shape" => "square", "food" => "pear" },
        { "shape" => "oval", "food" => "grape" },
];

my $data2 = [
        { "big" => "cow", "small" => "bunny" },
        { "big" => "horse", "small" => "mouse" },
];

foreach (0..2) {
        my $d = $data1->[$_];
        $d->{sizes} = $data2;
        print Dumper($d);
}

[download]
Last Update!: Using the same data above, this does not work: 
my @array;
foreach (0..2) {
        my $d = $data1->[$_];
        $d->{sizes} = $data2;
        push(@array,$d);
}
print Dumper(\@array);

[download]
But this does, so I guess I just don't understand why it (the above) works on the first iteration but not any after. Is that really behaving like it is suppose to? 
my @array;
foreach (0..2) {
        my $d = $data1->[$_];
        $d->{sizes} = $data2;
        push(@array,clone($d));
}
print Dumper(\@array);

[download]
Thanks again for the fix!

In reply to Re^4: Strange hash array behavior by Rodster001
in thread Strange hash array behavior by Rodster001

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