my $r = 44; my $hash = $self->{'residues'}{$modelCount}; for my $key ( grep { /^\w$r$/ } keys %$hash ) { print $key."\n"; } #### my $r = 44; my $hash = $self->{'residues'}{$modelCount}; while( my ($key, $value) = each %$hash ) { next if $key =~ /^\w$r$/; print $key."\n"; }