#variables
my $x=0;
my @keys;
my @holder;
my @array_hash;
my $blank = "-";
my $numerical_value = "num";
my $string_value = "string";
my $filter = "filter";
my $append = "append";

	for(my $c = 0; $c <= $num_elements; $c++)
	{
		if('$hash{$filter[$c]->[4]}' eq '$filter')
		{
			if (exists($hash{$filter[$c]->[0]}))
			{
				print "VALUE EXISTS", "\n";
#				continue;
				if('$hash{$filter[$c]->[3]}' eq '$numerical_value')
				{
					#process filtering for numerical value
					if ((eval "$hash{$filter[$c]->[0]} $filter[$c]->[1] $filter[$c]->[2]"))
					{
						print OUTFILE $line, "\n";
					}
				}
				if('$hash{$filter[$c]->[3]}' eq '$string_value')
				{
					#process filtering for string value
					if ((eval "'$hash{$filter[$c]->[0]}' $filter[$c]->[1] '$filter[$c]->[2]'"))
					{
						print OUTFILE $line, "\n";
					}
				} 
			}
			else
			{
				print "COLUMN NAME DOES NOT EXIST. CHECK FILTER FILE FOR ANY POSSIBLE ERRORS AND RE-RUN PROGRAM. PROGRAM WILL NOW TERMINATE.", "\n";
				exit 0;
			}
		}


##</code><code>##

 
column relationship value num_or_string filter_or_append order
a      <=           0.3   num           filter           1
b      =            abc   string        append           3
c      <=           0.3   num           filter           2

##</code><code>##

 if ((eval "'$hash{$filter[$c]->[0]}' $filter[$c]->[1] '$filter[$c]->[2]'"))