my %shortlist; for my $key (keys $results->{'ALLHOSTS'}){ for my $key2 (keys $results->{'ALLHOSTS'}{$key}{'ports'}{'tcp'}){ $shortlist{"$results->{'ALLHOSTS'}{$key}{'ports'}{'tcp'}{$key2}{'service'}{'name'}"} = $results->{'ALLHOSTS'}{$key}{'ports'}{'tcp'}{$key2}{'state'}; } }