You're storing %hash in scalar context in the other hash, instead of storing a reference to it: 
$container{ATTRIBUTES} = %attrs;

# should be

$container{ATTRIBUTES} = \%attrs;

[download]
That will make your de-referencing code (which currently says "1/8" isn't a valid hash reference) work.

japhy -- Perl and Regex Hacker

In reply to Re: Dynamically building a hash of hashes by japhy
in thread Dynamically building a hash of hashes by willdooUK

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