Well, I am no genius, but something like this should get you started. You'll have to strip off the first line though for this to work.
#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w use Data::Dumper; open( INPUT, "landuse_filenames.txt" ); while( <INPUT> ) { chomp; ( $FILE_NAME, $USGS_QD_ID, $QUAD_NAME, $ST_NAME1, $ST_NAME2, $ST_NAME3, $ST_NAME4, $DATE_REV, $DATE_PUB ) = split( /\t/ ); $landhashes[$cnt++] = { file_name => $FILE_NAME, usgs_qd_id => $USGS_QD_ID, quad_name => $QUAD_NAME, st_name1 => $ST_NAME1, st_name2 => $ST_NAME2, st_name3 => $ST_NAME3, st_name4 => $ST_NAME4, date_rev => $DATE_REV, date_pub => $DATE_PUB }; } close( INPUT ); print Dumper( \@landhashes ); -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 2:48 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: parse file into hash Hello, I am new with perl and was hoping to get some direction. I am attempting to parse a the attached .txt file. i need to be able to access the information by unique keys, QUAD_NAME and USGS_QD_ID. Also, I want to be able to do a somewhat less exact access byt ST_NAME. I was thinking that I would use a hash of arrays. any suggestions on parsing the file? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]