my %hash_of_hashes;

while (<UNITFILES>) {
    my @unitfiles_field = split /,/;

    # this is just an autogen number
    my $record = $unitfiles_field[0];

    my %unitfiles_hash = ( 
         lastname         => $unitfiles_field[1],
         firstname        => $unitfiles_field[2],
         DOB              => $unitfiles_field[7],
         funding          => $unitfiles_field[18],
         URNo             => $unitfiles_field[15],
         Photo_permission => $unitfiles_field[14],
    );

    # add this hash to the hash-of-hashes:
    $hash_of_hashes{$record_no} = \%unitfiles_hash;
}

##</code><code>##

my %hash_of_hashes;

while (<UNITFILES>) {
    my @f = split /,/;

    $hash_of_hashes{$f[0]} = 
    { 
         lastname         => $f[1],
         firstname        => $f[2],
         DOB              => $f[7],
         funding          => $f[18],
         URNo             => $f[15],
         Photo_permission => $f[14],
    };
}

##</code><code>##

my %hash_of_hashes;

while (<UNITFILES>) {
    my %h;
    (my $rn, @h{
        qw(lastname firstname DOB funding URNo Photo_permission)
    }) = (split /,/)[0,1,2,7,18,15,14];

    $hash_of_hashes{$rn} = \%h;
}