sub match_query(){ my $indexfile = shift; my $queryseq = shift; my @match_count; for my $key (keys %$indexfile){ my $count; for(my $k=0; $k{$rel} ||= 0; $count->{$rel} += 1; }else{ $count->{$rel} ||= 0; $count->{$rel} += 0; } } } my @array = sort{$b <=> $a} values %$count; my $max_count = shift @array; my $element; $element->{bar} = $key; $element->{max} = $max_count; push @match_count, $element; } my $result; @match_count = sort{$b ->{max} <=> $a->{max}} @match_count; #CODE #FAILS HERE DOESNT LIKE ->{max} if($match_count[0]->{max} == $match_count[1]->{max}){ $result = 0; }elsif($match_count[0]->{max}>5){ my $called_bar = $match_count[0]->{bar}; $result = $indexfile->{$called_bar}; }else{ $result = 0; } return $result }