#!/usr/bin/perl open(IN, '<', "cont.fil"); my %fvalues; while(){ if (/(.*) (.*)/){ $fvalues{$2} = $1; print "$fvalues{$2}\n"; # this one prints } } for($counter = 0 ; $counter < 10 ; $counter++){ print "$fvalues{$counter}" ; # no output } close(IN);