#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; my %rgbs = ( yellow => { r => 0xff, b => 0, g => 0xff, }, magenta => { r => 0xff, b => 0xff, g => 0, }, ); print "$rgbs{yellow}->{r}\n"; foo(\%rgbs); sub foo { my $rgbs = shift; print "$rgbs->{yellow}{r}\n"; }