Programming Perl, 4th Edition

Composition, Access, and Printing of Even More Elaborate Records

Naturally, the fields of your data structures can themselves be arbitrarily complex data structures in their own right:

%TV = (
    flintstones => {
        series   => "flintstones",
        nights   => [ "monday", "thursday", "friday" ],
        members  => [
            { name => "fred",    role => "husband", age  => 36, },
            { name => "wilma",   role => "wife",    age  => 31, },
            { name => "pebbles", role => "kid",     age  =>  4, },
        ],
    },

    jetsons     => {
        series   => "jetsons",
        nights   => [ "wednesday", "saturday" ],
        members  => [
            { name => "george",  role => "husband", age  => 41, },
            { name => "jane",    role => "wife",    age  => 39, },
            { name => "elroy",   role => "kid",     age  =>  9, },
        ],
    },

    simpsons    => {
        series   => "simpsons",
        nights   => [ "monday" ],
        members  => [
            { name => "homer", role => "husband", age => 34, },
            { name => "marge", role => "wife",    age => 37, },
            { name => "bart",  role => "kid",     age => 11, },
        ],
    },
);