We can use references to create complex data structures, such as this hash in which the values are arrays rather than scalars. Actually, they are scalars, since the array references are scalars, but they point to arrays.
my @fruits = qw(apple orange pear banana); my @rodents = qw(mouse rat hamster gerbil rabbit); my @books = qw(camel llama panther); my %categories = ( 'fruits' => \@fruits, 'rodents' => \@rodents, 'books' => \@books, ); # to print out "gerbil"... print $categories->{'rodents'}->[3];