>perl -wMstrict -le "my %ds = ( X => [ { one => 1 }, { two => 2, three => 3 }, ], Y => [ { fee => 'fie' }, { foe => 'fum' }, { foo => 'bar' }, ], ); ;; use Data::Dumper; print Dumper \%ds; " $VAR1 = { 'X' => [ { 'one' => 1 }, { 'three' => 3, 'two' => 2 } ], 'Y' => [ { 'fee' => 'fie' }, { 'foe' => 'fum' }, { 'foo' => 'bar' } ] };