entwicklung@ubuntu:~$ perl -MData::Dumper -le 'my @var = qw(Hund Katze Maus); my $hashref = {}; my $tmp = $hashref; for ( @var ) { $tmp->{$_} = {}; $tmp = $tmp->{$_} } print Dumper $hashref' $VAR1 = { 'Hund' => { 'Katze' => { 'Maus' => {} } } };