c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my $hash = { 'data' => [ { 'ID' => 32, 'State' => 'Stopped' }, { 'ID' => 33, 'State' => 'Stopped' }, { 'ID' => 31, 'State' => 'Running' }, ], }; ;; my @ra = map { $_->{State} if $_->{ID} == 32 } @{ $hash->{data} }; printf qq{'$_' } for @ra; " 'Stopped' '' ''