$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' my @dd = ( [ qw{ r0c0 r0c1 r0c2 } ], [ qw{ r1c0 r1c1 r1c2 } ], ); my $number_of_rows = @dd; say "No. of rows: $number_of_rows"; my $number_of_columns = @{ $dd[0] }; say "No. of columns: $number_of_columns"; ' No. of rows: 2 No. of columns: 3