Thanks a lot, I just wrote a short test program:

#! /usr/bin/perl

my %mh ;

$mh{a} = "b" ;
$mh->{b} = "c" ;

print "values are hash=$mh{a}, hash=$mh{b} or hashref=$mh->{b} \n" ;
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The problem with perl I think is that different types can have the same name.
I wrote a script once, and before I knew it I was mixing hashes and hash references!

Luca