Yes, $a and $b are aliases to values that get compared. Even if it were not it wouldn't make sense to add more dereferencing to a hash structure than there is depth.

Just out of curiosity: Why did you write $a and $b into your code if you didn't know that?

In reply to Re^3: Sorting hash of hash of hash by values by jethro
in thread Sorting hash of hash of hash by values by legendx

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