my %h = ( word1 =>[2,3], word2 =>[1,3], word3 =>[1,2] ); $h{word1} = [ $h{word2},$h{word3}]; $h{word2} = [ $h{word1},$h{word3}]; $h{word3} = [ $h{word1},$h{word2}]; print @{ @{ $h{'word3'} }[0] }[0], "\n";