sub svhash {	
	($db, $hm, $makedb, $duplicates, $bdbtype) = @_;
	$makedb ||= 0;		
	$duplicates ||= '';	
	$bdbtype ||= 'hash';	
	my %h;				
	($dbhandx, $fail) = ("", "");
	$fail = _dbfix($db, $hm);		
	unless ($fail) {
	
		my $bdb = BerkeleyDB::Hash;
		if (lc($bdbtype) =~ /btree/) { $bdb = BerkeleyDB::Btree;} 	
		my $fset = DB_CREATE;  				
		my $n = "0666";					
		my $dups = DB_DUP | DB_DUPSORT;
		$BerkeleyDB::Error = '';				
		if ($duplicates) {				
			if ($makedb) {				
				tie %h, $bdb, -Filename => $db,  	-Flags => $fset, 	  -Mode => $n, -Property => $dups       	                  
				                                                                                                                                   or $fail = 1; 
			} else {									
				tie %h, $bdb, -Filename => $db,  -Mode => $n, -Property => $dups            or $fail = 1; 
			}		
		} else {				
			if ($makedb) {				
				tie %h, $bdb, -Filename => $db,  	-Flags => $fset, 	  -Mode => $n                    or $fail = 1; 
			} else {									
				tie %h, $bdb, -Filename => $db,  -Mode => $n											         or $fail = 1; 
			}		
		}
		
		$fail = dbresult($fail, $BerkeleyDB::Error);			
		unless ($fail)	{$dbhandx = \%h;}
	}
	
	return ($dbhandx, $fail);

}