#!/usr/bin/perl 

use strict;
use warnings;

open (FH, ">students.txt");
        print FH "Perry*Steve*234\nSmith*Jane*456\nJones*Mary*567\n";
                close (FH);

$students="students.txt";
open(FH, $students) or die("Could not open file!");
while(<FH>) {
        @students = split (/*/, $_);
        $key = $students[0],$students[1];
        $hash{$key} = $students[2];
}