#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my @x=qw/x y z/; my @y=@x; $y[1]='u'; print Dumper \@x, \@y; @x=( map [qw/x y z/], 1..3 ); @y=@x; $y[1][1]='u'; print Dumper \@x, \@y; __END__ #### $VAR1 = [ 'x', 'y', 'z' ]; $VAR2 = [ 'x', 'u', 'z' ]; $VAR1 = [ [ 'x', 'y', 'z' ], [ 'x', 'u', 'z' ], [ 'x', 'y', 'z' ] ]; $VAR2 = [ $VAR1->[0], $VAR1->[1], $VAR1->[2] ];