{ 0 => ['price'], 23 => ['brightness', 'resolution', 'weight'], } #### use strict; my $sort; unless ($sort = do ('G4 HD:Desktop Folder:sort.pl')) { die ("Could not open config file"); } print $sort->{23}[0]; #### my $search = 'price'; my $column = 23; foreach ($sort->{$column}) { #(search each indices for $search) }