foreach my $time ( sort {$a <=> $b} keys %{$Signal_ref}) { print"my signal: $Signal_ref->{$time} at t = $time \n"; # first test if (defined $Signal_ref->{$time}) { my $SigValue{$time} = $Signal_ref->{$time}{'signal_1'}; print"my values: $SigValue{$time} \n"; } }