my $names = &getNames; my $valid_names = &validateNames(\$names); usually, I noticed that &validateNames(\$names); could be &validateNames($names); just to make things easier. However, you can use it, just more messy looking

sub validateNames{ 
  my $valid_names=shift; 
  print Dumper($valid_names); 
  # I want to access ( print ) the data here
   
  my $category = ();
  foreach $category (sort keys %{${$valid_names}})
  {
     print "INFO - $category . Name : " . ${${$valid_names}}{$category
+}{'name'} . "\n";
     print "INFO - $category .  Email : " . ${${$valid_names}}{$catego
+ry}{'email'} . "\n";     
  }
}
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