my $students="students.txt";

##</code><code>##

#!/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);

my %hash;
my $students = "students.txt";
open(FH, $students) or die("Could not open file!");
while (<FH>) {
     my ($firstname, $lastname, $password) = split (/\*/, $_);
     $hash{"$firstname $lastname"} = $password;
}#while

##</code><code>##

#!/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);

my %hash;
my $students = "students.txt";
open(FH, $students) or die("Could not open file!");
while (<FH>) {
     my ($firstname, $lastname, $password) = split (/\|/, $_);
     $hash{"$firstname $lastname"} = $password;
}#while