$a{b} accesses the hash %a, which has no relation to the variable $a. $a->{b} assumes that $a is a hash reference, and accesses the element b of it.

Always use strict, it will catch such errors if you happen to write the wrong one (and the other one isn't declared).

Perl 6 - the future is here, just unevenly distributed

In reply to Re: Difference in accessing a Hash by moritz
in thread Difference in accessing a Hash by perl@1983

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