open(KEYS, "keys.txt") or die "error: $!"; open(VALS, "values.txt") or die "error: $!"; my ($key,$value); my (%tips_by_name, %av_by_name, %max_by_name, %min_by_name); while ($key=) { $value=; chomp($key); chomp($value); $tips_by_name{$key} += $value; # code to do average, min, max here.. # I'm not asking about that part, my question is # more about the way of reading files } close(VALS); close(KEYS); # code to print out the results here... again # not part of my question at the moment.