use strict; use warnings; my %assoc; while(){ chomp; my @fields = split ',',$_; $assoc{ $fields[0] } = { name => $fields[2], parent => $fields[1] eq '#' ? '' : $fields[1], } } sub get_parents{ my $href = shift; # exit condition first in recursive subs return '' unless defined $assoc{ $href->{parent} }{name}; print "$assoc{ $href->{parent} }{name} "; # recursive call get_parents( $assoc{ $href->{parent} } ); } foreach my $id (keys %assoc){ print "$assoc{$id}->{name} "; get_parents($assoc{$id}); print "\n"; } __DATA__ 15,10,name3 10,#,name1 12,10,name2 5,12,name4 8,5,name5 #output name4 name2 name1 name1 name5 name4 name2 name1 name2 name1 name3 name1