sub my_del($){ while (my $key = each (%hash)){ print "KEY = $key\n"; foreach (@{ $dependencies{$key} }){ if( $_ eq $_[0]){ print"Going to call sub for $key\n"; my_del($key); } } print"\n"; } delete $hash{$_[0]}; print "Deleting $_[0]\n"; } my_del('one');