my %records; #--> Hash to be used for the data my @owner_record; #--> Array holds the data to be placed into the hash $records{"$owner_record[1]"} = [ "$owner_record[5]", "$owner_record[0]", "$owner_record[6]", "$owner_record[9]", (join ":", "$owner_record[10] $owner_record[11]"), []; ]; #This hash (%records) prints the following when I use the "Data::Dumper". print Dumper \%records; __OUTPUT__ $VAR1 = { '999?AlphaMusic' => [ 'Bill', '/ud/NEW-PrOdUcTs/NWA', '5151515', '10:51:00', 'Sep 16', [] ], '667!NEWPRODUCT' => [ 'matthew', '/ud/QC-PROD/NWO', '5555555', '10:25:00', 'Sep 16', [] ], '001!SCHEDULE' => [ 'richard', '/ud/QC-DATA/CONTROL', '5005444', '10:50:44', 'Sep 16', [] ] };