Encapsulate. You've got complex data structures. Your code is going to be complex. You should consider hiding some of that complexity behind an Object-Oriented interface. Create a module to represent your upper level %hash, and then write accessors to get at the various pieces. For example: 
package OBJ;

sub new {
    shift;
    bless {@_}, 'OBJ';
}

sub normal {
    shift->{normal}
}

sub listl {
    my $self = shift;
    my $index = shift;
    my $key = shift;
    $self->{listl}[$index]{$key};
}

#####
package main;


my $obj = new OBJ(normal => "some text", 
                  listl => [{keys => vals}, {keys => vals},   ]);

$normal = $obj->normal();

$value = $obj->listl(0,'key');

[download]
Do note that this is a very bare bones example, with no error checking, no way to set new values for the object's various components, etc.

--DrWhy

"If God had meant for us to think for ourselves he would have given us brains. Oh, wait..."

In reply to Re: Hashes of Arrays of Hashes (sometimes of Arrays) by DrWhy
in thread Hashes of Arrays of Hashes (sometimes of Arrays) by Bro. Doug

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