>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dump -le "my %hash; ;; $hash{'AirIATA'} = get_IATA(); dd \%hash; ;; @hash{'AirIATA'} = get_IATA(); dd \%hash; ;; sub get_IATA { return 'useful', 'unexpected'; } " Scalar value @hash{'AirIATA'} better written as $hash{'AirIATA'} at ... { AirIATA => "unexpected" } { AirIATA => "useful" }