This code:
foreach (1..3) {
push @hashes, {};
}
does the same thing (but faster and cleaner) as this code:
foreach (1..3) {
my %any_name;
push @hashes, \%any_name;
}
At the end of the each loop in the second example, the %any_name hash would normally vanish, but because a *reference* to it is saved, the hash itself still floats in memory, with no name associated with it. Since a reference is a kind of scalar, it can be stored in the array just like any other scalar.
The anonymous hash constructor, {}, allows you to avoid any %temp_hash that you did not need to refer to by name.
See also: