How should I store values in a multi-level Perl hash?

Question

I am looking to do something like this. I remember I had some issues with values disappearing when programming like this. Is this type of structure "correct/valid" for a hash?

my %VAR;
$VAR{SCALAR} = "test scalar";
$VAR{ARRAY}[0] = "test array";
$VAR{HASH}{NAME}[0] = "test hash array 1";
$VAR{HASH}{NAME}[1] = "test hash array 2";
$VAR{HASH}{NAME}[2]{SOMEHASH} = "test hash array hash 1";
$VAR{HASH}{NAME}[2]{ANOTHERHASH} = "test hash array hash 2";

Answer 1

I see no reason why this wouldn't work. What issues are you seeing?

If you want to make sure your data structure looks like what you'd expect, I recommend something like Data::Dumper:

 # set up your %VAR hash as you like
 use Data::Dumper;
 print Dumper(\%VAR);

Should get something like:

$VAR1 = {
      'HASH' => {
                  'NAME' => [
                              'test hash array 1',
                              'test hash array 2',
                              {
                                'ANOTHERHASH' => 'test hash array hash 2',
                                'SOMEHASH' => 'test hash array hash 1'
                              }
                            ]
                },
      'ARRAY' => [
                   'test array'
                 ],
      'SCALAR' => 'test scalar'
    };