#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my %customers; while (my $line = ) { while ($line =~ m/{(.*?)}/g) { my $customer_name = $1; $customers{ $customer_name }++; } } use Data::Dumper; print Dumper \%customers; __DATA__ AB1\tA{Daniel Wright}\sA{Jack Smith}\sB{Jane Goodwin} QW1\tA{Samantha Patton}\sC{Timothy Eeckles} AR2\tA{Jane Goodwin}