I think you mean $email = $hash{key}[0]{email}; At least, that's what your steps describe.

my %hash;


# Inputed data:

my $email     = 'email@example.com';
my $timestamp = time;


# Adding a record:

my $record = {
   email     => $email,
   timtstamp => timestamp,
};

push(@{$hash{key}}, $record);


# Example of getting a value:

print("email for first record: ", $hash{key}[0]{email}, "\n");
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"@{ $hash{key} }" means "the array at key 'key' in the hash '%hash'". Auto-vivification will create the array for us if it doesn't already exist.