Note: my %page = %{ ... }; is making a copy of the hash. Changes will not be retained.
Are you sure? Try running this: 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my %hash = (key1 => {
                     subkey1 => [ qw(a number of elements in an array)
+ ],
                    },
            key2 => "value2");

my %hash2 = %hash;

$hash2{key1}->{subkey1} = [ qw(other elements in an array) ];
print Dumper(\%hash);
print Dumper(\%hash2);

[download]
A hash copy will only do a shallow copy, i.e. the references are copied instead of the contents of those references. That's why changes to %hash2 also end up in %hash. Using Devel::Peek to display %hash and %hash2 will make this even more clear. Search for the lines looking like: 

  Elt "key2" HASH = 0x3e4d4a
    SV = PV(0x80f6498) at 0x81009c4

[download]

and note the addresses.

Arjen

In reply to Re: Re: Getting a branch of a nested hash by Aragorn
in thread Getting a branch of a nested hash by legLess

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