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}; } }