#yourcode while (){ chomp; my @line = split ('\t', $_); my $key1 = 'A' . $line[0] . '.' . 'A' . $line[1]; ##first key my $key2 = 'A' . $line[1] . '.' . 'A' . $line[0]; ##key the other +way ##check to see if the key exists in the hash ##if it doesn't there is data in your infile, not in you names ar +ray if (exists $diplotypes{$key1} && $line[0] <= $line[1]) { $diplotypes{$key1} += $line[2]; } elsif (exists $diplotypes{$key2} && $line[0] >= $line[1]) { $diplotypes{$key2} += $line[2]; } else{##world is out to get you print STDERR "No key for $key1 or $key2\n"; next; } }