GuiPerl:

It looks like you munged up the stuff in the code tags, so I'm not sure. However, it looks like you've used Data::Dumper to dump your data. If so, it appears like you might've done something like:

my %AG = (
    'BERF - Office of Director' => [
        [
            { SECTION  => 'BERF'     },
            { GRADE    => 'D1'       },
            { POSITION => 'DIRECTOR' },
            { NAME     => 'D. Fool'  },
        ]
    ]
);

print Dumper(%AG);
[download]

So to access any element of your data structure, start at the top, and work your way down/in to your data element. So if you want to get the GRADE, you'd need to do something like this:

my $grade = $AG{'BERF - Office of Director'}[0][0]{GRADE};
[download]

If you look at the data, you can see the nested pair of square brackets: That means that you have an array inside of an array. I suspect that what you *really* wanted is more like this:

my %AG = (
    'BERF - Office of Director' => {
        SECTION=>'BERF', GRADE=>'D1', POSITION=>'DIRECTOR', NAME=>'D. 
+Fool'
    }
);
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This would make %AG a hash of hashes, and you could access GRADE like:

my $grade = $AG{'BERF - Office of Director'}{GRADE};
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I'd suggest taking a short break from your current project and reading perldoc perldsc, perldoc perlreftut for a little while. Let me know if you need a bit more help.

Note: Oh, yeah, one other thing: If you're going to use Data::Dumper to print a data structure, be sure to pass a *reference* to the structure into the routine. So you'd use a statement like one of these:

my %hash = { a=>1, b=>2 };
my $ref = \%hash;

# This will give you a nice dump of your hash
print Dumper($ref);

# This will give you the same kind of dump
print Dumper(\%hash);

# This will give you a *HORRIBLE* dump:
print Dumper(%hash);
# It'll give you something like:
$VAR1 = 'a';
$VAR2 = 1;
$VAR3 = 'b';
$VAR4 = 2;
[download]

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.

Robticus,

The data structure that I want is in fact the one you had mentioned (i.e. A Hash of Hashes). My code has been generating this kind of structure.

#Foreach that loops through @rows which stores data from a CSV file.

 foreach my $rec (@rows) {
        

        
      foreach my $dept (@Divisions) {
        
        
            if ($rec->[5] =~ /^$dept/ && $rec->[8] =~ /^P\W[1-5]|D\W[1
+-2]|AD\w|DD\w|DG/) {
      
            
                my $Rec = { 
                             GRADE=>strip_hyphen($rec->[0]),   
                             POSITION=>$rec->[1],
                             NAME=>invert_name($rec->[2])             
+   
           };
            
             #The Divison is then added here
    
            push @{$AG{$rec->[4]}},$Rec;
            

            } 
 
            
            
            }
      
 }

<code>
Dump of the %AG structure generated by logic above:


VAR1 = 'ESRD - Office of Director';
$VAR2 = [
          {

            'NAME' => 'A. Smith',
            'POSITION' => 'DIRECTOR',
            'GRADE' => 'D1'
          },
          {

            'NAME' => 'P. Green',
            'POSITION' => 'SENIOR DIRECTOR',
            'GRADE' => 'D2'
          }
        ];

$VAR3 = 'BERF - Office of Technology';
$VAR4 = [
          {
            'NAME' => 'G. Tekola',
            'POSITION' => 'JUNIOR OFFICER',
            'GRADE' => 'P1'
          },
          {
            'NAME' => 'P. Brown',
            'POSITION' => 'JUNIOR OFFICER',
            'GRADE' => 'P1'
          },
          {
            'NAME' => 'T. Green',
            'POSITION' => 'Technology Officer',
            'GRADE' => 'P2'
          },
          {
            'NAME' => 'T. Green',
            'POSITION' => 'Technology Officer',
            'GRADE' => 'P2'
          },
          {
            'NAME' => 'T. Green',
            'POSITION' => 'Technology Chief',
            'GRADE' => 'P3'
          },
        ];
[download]

I then can access the data using the following logic:

foreach my $A (sort keys %AG) {
    
     foreach my $p ( sort {   substr($$a{GRADE},0,1) cmp substr($$b{GR
+ADE},0,1) || substr($$b{GRADE},0,2) cmp substr($$a{GRADE},0,2)} @{$AA
+{$A}})  {

 my( $grade_nums,$grade, $name,$position ) = ($p->{GRADE_NUMS},$p->{'G
+RADE'}, $p->{'NAME'},$p->{'POSITION'} );
        
        print   $grade_nums,$grade, $name,$position,"\n";   

        
}
 
}
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How do I then implement you counter logic in this type of structure? A small pointer would be appreciated. I did read Perldesc which helped me to develop my data structure. Maybe I need to change it? And yes, I will try to invest in a good editor. Maybe Komodo.

You could use slot 0 of your array to hold the count, and let the names occupy slots 1..n. That would give you a structure like:

my %AG = (
    'OfficeOfDir' => [
        5,   # slot 0 holds count
        { GRADE=>'A', POSITION=>'Quarterback', NAME=>'Unitas, J.' },
        { GRADE=>'B', POSITION=>'Nickleback',  NAME=>'Elephino' },
    ],
    'OfficeOfTech' => [
        2,
        { GRADE=>'B2', POSITION=>'Secretary', NAME=>'BillTheGalacticHe
+ro' },
        { GRADE=>'C5', POSITION=>'Diplomat',  NAME=>'StainlessSteelRat
+'   },
    ],
);
[download]

There are many alternatives, though. You need to come up with something that feels natural to you, and you find easy to work with in your code.

Also, I wasn't kidding when I mentioned:

• Indentation will help you gain speed and accuracy, and
• Use a reference with Dumper so you can get a simpler view of your data.

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.