sub recIterate{
   my $ref = shift;
   my $funcRef = shift; #mutation function reference

   if(ref($ref) =~ /HASH/){
       my %copy = %$ref;
       foreach my $item (keys %copy){
           $copy{$item} = recIterate($copy{$item}, 
                                     $funcRef);
       }
       %$ref = %copy;
   }elsif(ref($ref) =~ /ARRAY/){
       my @copy;
       foreach my $item (@copy){
           push(@copy, recIterate($item, $funcRef);
       }
       @$ref = @copy;
   }elsif(ref($ref) eq ''){ #i think this is how scalars 
                            #look to ref, but you might
                            #want to look it up
       $$ref = &$funcRef($$ref);
   }
}



##</code><code>##

#you will need to define your own mutator function
sub someFunc{ #removes tabs
    my $old = shift;
    my $new = $old;
    $new =~ s/\t//g;
    return $new;
}

%nDimHash; #this might be a HoAoHoAoAoAoS or whatever;
%nDimHash = recIterate(\%recIterate, \&someFunc);


##</code><code>##