open(PARMFILE, "<$parmfile") || die "unsuccessful open of input file $parmfile";
     while (<PARMFILE>) {
          next if /^#/ || /^\s*$/;
          chomp;
          @temp=split(/\s+/,$_);
	  $array_ref = \@temp;             # confusion
	  $dbparms{$temp[2]} = $array_ref; # here
     }
     close PARMFILE;

	foreach $item (sort keys %dbparms) {
		print "$item => $dbparms{$item} \n";
	}