You never get a copy of the array referenced by $data2, not even the first time through the loop.
But, it seems to work on the first iteration. util's fix solved the problem and that is the route I am going to go. This is purely academic at this point. So, my last example above (using the same data)... 
 
my @array;
foreach (0..2) {
        my $d = $data1->[$_];
        $d->{sizes} = $data2;
        push(@array,$d);
}
print Dumper(\@array);

$VAR1 = [
          {
            'food' => 'apple',
            'shape' => 'round',
            'sizes' => [
                         {
                           'small' => 'bunny',
                           'big' => 'cow'
                         },
                         {
                           'small' => 'mouse',
                           'big' => 'horse'
                         }
                       ]
          },
          {
            'food' => 'pear',
            'shape' => 'square',
            'sizes' => $VAR1->[0]{'sizes'}
          },
          {
            'food' => 'grape',
            'shape' => 'oval',
            'sizes' => $VAR1->[0]{'sizes'}
          }
        ];

[download]
But using util's solution, clone solves the problem: 
        push(@array,clone($d));

[download]
So, why does it "work" on the first pass (without using clone) and then from there I just get a shallow copy?

In reply to Re^6: Strange hash array behavior by Rodster001
in thread Strange hash array behavior by Rodster001

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