my %box_banamex; $box_banamex{$bank}{'entry'} = $upperframe->Entry(......... -textvariable => \$box_banamex{$bank}{'status'}, foreach my $bank (keys %box_banamex){ #read each value from file $box_banamex{$bank}{'status'} = whatever from file parsing; $box_banamex{$bank}{'entry'}->update; }