equal

non equal

equal
[download]

#!/usr/bin/perl
$HASH_SIZE = 100;
%hash1;
%hash2;

for ($i=0; $i < $HASH_SIZE; $i++) {
    $hash1{"i=$i"} = "j=$i";
}

%hash2 = %hash1;

if (&hasheq(\%hash1, \%hash2)) {
  print "\nequal\n";
} else 
{
    print "\nnon equal\n";
}

$hash2{"anotherone"} = "anotherONE";


if (&hasheq(\%hash1, \%hash2)) {
  print "\nequal\n";
} else 
{
    print "\nnon equal\n";
}

$hash1{"anotherone"} = "anotherONE";

if (&hasheq(\%hash1, \%hash2)) {
  print "\nequal\n";
} else 
{
    print "\nnon equal\n";
}


sub hasheq {

    my ($ha1, $ha2) = @_;
    my %h1 = %$ha1;
    my %h2 = %$ha2;

    my @k1 = keys(%h1);
    my @k2 = keys(%h2);
    # do they have the same number of elements?
    if (@k1 != @k2) { 
        return 0; 
    }

    # are the keys the same?
    if ((join '/' , sort @k1 ) ne (join '/' , sort @k2)) { 
        return 0;
    }

    # are the values the same? 
    if ( scalar grep { $h1{$_} ne $h2{$_} } @k1 )
    { 
        return 0;
    }

    return 1;

}
[download]

Nice. I can't see this kind of follow-ups often enough!

A few comments, naturally:

1. use strict warnings and diagnostics or die. These are your friends on the long run.
2. You declare 2 vars without need:

     my %h1 = %{ $_[0] }; #h2 similar
   [download]

3. Check whether your refs are defined:

     my %h1 = (defined $_[0] and ref $_[0]) ? %{ $_[0] } : ();
   [download]

   This will make the code more portable/general/cleaner. You may add an extra check for hashiness.
4. I just realized that this code can't distinguish between undefined or empty, so the grep becomes:

     scalar grep { 
       my ($a, $b) = ( $h1{$_}, $h2{$_} );
       ( not defined $a and defined $b )
         or
       ( not defined $b and defined $a )
         or
       $a ne $b 
     } @k1
   [download]

   Had to think extra carefully there!

Hope this helps,

Jeroen