package SomeMod; sub new { my $obj = bless{ Order=>[], Items=>{}, Config=>{}, }, shift; while ( @_ ) { my ( $key, $val ) = ( shift, shift ) ; push @{$obj->{Order}}, $key; $obj->{Items}{$key} = $val; } return $obj } 1; ### main use SomeMod; my %Items_Key_Value_pairs = (A => "Apple", B => "Banana", C => "Cat"); my $obj = SomeMod -> new ( %Items_Key_Value_pairs ) ; #### package SomeMod; sub new { my $obj = bless{ Order=>[], Items=>{}, Config=>{}, }, shift; my %arg = @_ ; while ( @{$arg{Items}} ) { # BLOW! 'Not an ARRAY reference' my ( $key, $val ) = ( shift, shift ) ; push @{$obj->{Order}}, $key; $obj->{Items}{$key} = $val; } # ... deal with config ... return $obj } 1; ### main use SomeMod; my %Items_Key_Value_pairs = (A => "Apple", B => "Banana", C => "Cat"); my %some_config_param = (); my $obj = SomeMod -> new ( Items => { %Items_Key_Value_pairs } , Config => { %some_config_param } ) ;