sub upd_info { # Create non-reference aliases to arguments. our %paramhash; local *paramhash = shift; our @paramarray; local *paramarray = shift; ... keep rest as is ... } #### sub upd_info { my ($paramshash, $paramarray) = @_; while (($key, $val) = each(%$paramhash)) # added $ { $upd_flg = 0; foreach $item (sort { $a cmp $b } @$paramarray) # added $ { if ($item =~ /^$key\s+(\w+)$/) { $upd_flg = $upd_flg + 1; $paramhash->{$key} .= " $1"; # added -> last; } } if ($upd_flg == 0) { $paramhash->{$key} .= " NONE"; # added -> } }