@{"color"} perl interprets that as an attempt to dereference a string. So perl treats the string "color" as a symbolic reference, which causes perl to go to the symbol table and look up "color", and the @ tells perl to grab what's in the ARRAY slot for "color".

But if the name "color" does not exist in the symbol table, then perl will create this name. So, perl either creates new, or grabs existing. This is the consistent behavior of perl. So the *{"thing"} usage is as consistent as @{"thing"}. The only difference between the two is what is being accessed/created. Why do you need to put so many complications around it?

#!/usr/bin/perl

@{"color"} = qw(a b c);  # this creates new name "color"
                         # and uses ARRAY slot of the name
@{"color-ab"} = qw(1 2 3); # this also creates new name
                           # and uses ARRAY slot of it.

print join(',', @color), "\n"; # here I use the name created above
print join(',', @{"color-ab"}), "\n"; # I can't access this name
                                      # using "normal" perl syntax
*{"other"} = *{"color-ab"};  # this creates new name "other",
                             # and this name shall reference 
                             # the same slots as "color-ab" name
print join(',', @other), "\n";

${"color-ab"} = 10;  # set "color-ab" variable
print $other, "\n";  # see the difference in $other.
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