http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=362066


in reply to Detect and reset hashes

You can always use the ref function to see what kind of reference a scalar is. It also returns the package name if the reference is an object, which makes it something like Java's instanceof operator.

The second part of your question is confusing to me. If you access a value by key then you can do so again later. I hope I understand the second part of your question and I hope this helps.