DB<100> $hash{hunger}="string_not_ref" => "string_not_ref" DB<101> $hash{hunger}{games}="movie" => "movie" DB<102> \%string_not_ref => { games => "movie" } DB<103> use strict; $main::hash{hunger}{games}="movie" Can't use string ("string_not_ref") as a HASH ref while "strict refs" in use at (eval 26)[multi_perl5db.pl:644] line 2.