#!/usr/bin/perl -l my %hash; my $foo = $hash{'foo'}; print exists $hash{'foo'} ? "yes" : "no"; # prints "no" my $bar = $hash{'bar'}->{'xxx'}; print exists $hash{'bar'} ? "yes" : "no"; # prints "yes" my $baz = \$hash{'baz'}; print exists $hash{'baz'} ? "yes" : "no"; # prints "yes"