my %supHash open my $ref, "ref.txt" or die $!; $head = <$ref>; ## if header is present while(<$ref>){ chomp $_; my @line = split(',', $_); ## if it is a csv file if(exists $CommonSampleNames{$line[0]} ){ $supHash{$ine[0]} = $line[1]; ## if second column has reference names } } close($ref);