my %macs = ( '00:11:22:33:44:55' => { 'response_status' => 12, 'response_date' => 'yesterday', }, 'AA:BB:66:12:13:14' => { 'response_status' => 0, 'response_date' => '2004-12-31', }, # ... and so on ); #### my $mac = ; chomp $mac; if ( exists $macs{$mac} ) { print "Okay, found mac $mac:\n"; print "response_status: $macs{$mac}{response_status}\n"; print "response_date: $macs{$mac}{response_date}\n"; } else { print "Sorry, don't recognize that mac\n"; }