$VAR1 = { 'test1' => [ { 'temp' => '123' } ], 'test2' => [ $VAR1->{'test1'}[0] ] }; #### #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use Data::Dumper; my ($hash_ref, $var1); print "This is my test of Data Dummper\n"; ## Setup Data $var1->{temp} = "123"; push (@{$hash_ref->{test1}}, $var1); push (@{$hash_ref->{test2}}, $var1); print Dumper($hash_ref); ## print new data my $VAR1; eval Dumper($hash_ref); print Dumper($VAR1); exit; #### $VAR1 = { 'test1' => [ { 'temp' => '123' } ], 'test2' => [ $VAR1->{'test1'}[0] ] }; $VAR1 = { 'test1' => [ { 'temp' => '123' } ], 'test2' => [ undef ] };