my %main = ( 'main1' => {'m1sec1'=> ['A','B','C'],}, 'main2' => {'m2sec1'=> ['D','E','F'],}, 'main1-join' => { 'm1sec1'=> ['AX','BX','CX', 'AY','BY','CY', 'AZ','AY','AZ'], }, 'main2-join' => { 'm2sec1'=> ['DX','EX','FX', 'DY','EY','FY', 'DZ','EZ','FZ], } );