use strict; my %keyHash = (); $keyHash{"a"} = 345; $keyHash{"b"} = 2; my %valueHash = (); $valueHash{"c"} = 3; $valueHash{"d"} = 4; my %hash = (); my $keyHashAsRef = \%keyHash; $hash{$keyHashAsRef} = \%valueHash; foreach my $key(keys(%hash)){ my %kHash =%{$key}; print "TEST: " . $kHash{"a"} . "\n"; }