An alternative to get round the scoping problem is... 
use vars qw/%a_hash/;

BEGIN {
  $a_hash{key} = qw/val/;
}
.
.

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A user level that continues to overstate my experience :-))

In reply to Re^3: When is "use module" not the same as require+import? by Bloodnok
in thread When is "use module" not the same as require+import? by AZed

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