> Something like below doesn't work:
>    h=Hash.new
>    h["a"][0]="something"
>    h["a"][1]="another thing"

h=Hash.new
h["a"] = Array.new
h["a"][0]="something"
h["a"][1]="another thing"

Ruby doesn't quite have Perl's "implicit declaration".

> and what's the equivalence of Perl's $"?

What does Perl's $" have?

-- 
Daniel Carrera
Graduate Teaching Assistant.  Math Dept.
University of Maryland.  (301) 405-5137
--
depone: depone (di-POHN) verb tr., intr.
   To declare under oath.