c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "package Foo::Bar { sub TIEHASH {} } ;; my $data = {}; tie %$data, 'Foo::Bar'; print $data; ;; $data = return_anon_hash_ref(); print $data; ;; use Data::Dumper; print Dumper $data; ;; sub return_anon_hash_ref { return { 'sorry' => 'charley' }; } " HASH(0x3bd06c) HASH(0x3bd15c) $VAR1 = { 'sorry' => 'charley' };