knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ perl -Mstrict -MData::Dumper -wE '
> my @a = (
>    { 1 => q{j}, 2 => q{b} },
>    { 1 => q{p}, 2 => q{b} },
>    );
> print Data::Dumper->Dumpxs( [ \ @a ], [ qw{ *a } ] );'
@a = (
       {
         '1' => 'j',
         '2' => 'b'
       },
       {
         '1' => 'p',
         '2' => 'b'
       }
     );
knoppix@Microknoppix:~$