Accessing Array of Arrays

GuiPerl has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi fellows, I have finally put together a small script that when implemented into a larger context will read data from a flat file and processed from output to Excel using Excel::Writer::XLSX. In the meantime, I am having difficulty accessing the data from the Array of Arrays. I trying to split the colon delimited data, however, the output is incorrect. I have stored each line of data using the $save scalar that concatenates each line from the foreach loop and push the results into an array. The data structure is provided as can be seen. To make a long story short, I would like to access each line of data and each individual data element. Here is the code:

#!C:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe


use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;





my %AG = (
    GAHD => [ {
               NAME => 'K. Long',
               POSITION => 'SENIOR OFFICER',
               GRADE => 'P5',
               COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
               
              },
              {
               NAME => 'J. Buber',
               POSITION => 'CHIEF',
               GRADE => 'D1',
               COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
              },
              {
               NAME => 'M. Amsi',
               POSITION => 'SENIOR ANIMAL HEALTH OFFICER',
               GRADE => 'P5',
               COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
              },
              {
               NAME => 'E. Xenu',
               POSITION => 'SENIOR OFFICER',
               GRADE => 'P5',
               COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
              },
            ],
    GAGD => [
             {
              NAME => 'P. Cheru',
              POSITION => 'ANIMAL PRODUCTION OFFICER',
              GRADE => 'P4',
              COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
             },
             {
              NAME => 'B. Burns',
              POSITION => 'ANIMAL PRODUCTION OFFICER',
              GRADE => 'P4',
              COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
             },
             {
              NAME => 'R. Mung',
              POSITION => 'ANIMAL PRODUCTION OFFICER',
              GRADE => 'P4',
              COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
             },
             {
              NAME => 'B. Scherf',
              POSITION => 'ANIMAL PRODUCTION OFFICER',
              GRADE => 'P4',
              COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
               AGE => 45,
               FEMALE=>'*',
               VACANT=>'YELLOW'
              
             },
             {
              NAME => 'I. Hoffmann',
              POSITION => 'CHIEF',
              GRADE => 'P5',
              AGE => 45,
              FEMALE=>'*',
              VACANT=>'YELLOW',
              COUNTRY=>'ITALY',
               PWD=>'Y',
               DATE_OF_BIRTH=>'4/12/1944',
             }
            ]);
            

my %positions;
my $counts = 0;
my %grades;
my $rec;
my @new2;
my $count=0;
my $c;
my $save;

for my $division (keys %AG) {
    print "**$division**\n";
    
    my %group;
    my %group2;
    for my $person (@{ $AG{$division} }) {
        my $position = join ':', @{ $person }{qw{GRADE POSITION}};
        

           push @{ $group{$position} },$rec=[$person->{NAME},$person->
+{COUNTRY},$person->{DATE_OF_BIRTH},$person->{AGE},$person->{FEMALE},$
+person->{VACANT},$person->{PWD}]
       

        
    }
    
  for my $position ( sort { substr($a, 0, 1) cmp substr($b, 0, 1) ||
                    substr($b, 0, 2) cmp substr($a, 0, 2) } keys %grou
+p) {
    
     
                $position =~ /(\w\d)\W(.*)/g;
                
               
                my $pos=$1;
                my $title=$2;
                my $c=scalar @{ $group{$position} };
                
                
               

           $save.=[$c.':'.$pos.':'.$title];
   

          
         
              print scalar @{ $group{$position} }.":".$pos.':'.$title.
+':';
        
        foreach my $key ( @{ $group{$position} }) {
                    
           
                    print join ":",$key->[0],$key->[1],$key->[2],$key-
+>[3],$key->[4],$key->[5],$key->[6],"\n";
                    
                    $save.=[':'.$key->[0].':'.$key->[1].':'.$key->[2].
+':'.$key->[3].':'.$key->[4].':'.$key->[5].':'.$key->[6]."\n"];
                    
                  
             
   
                }
        
          

     
     
     
    }
  
  
 # print Dumper @new2;
  
 # exit;

push(@new2,$save);

}
   
   
foreach my $l_output (@new2) {
    
    my($a,$b,$c,$e,$f,$g,$h,$i) = split (/:/,$l_output);
    
    print join " ",$a,$b,$c,$e,$f,$g,$h,$i,"\n";
    
}
[download]

Output from above:

**GAGD**
1:P5:CHIEF:I. Hoffmann:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
4:P4:ANIMAL PRODUCTION OFFICER:P. Cheru:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
B. Burns:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
R. Mung:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
B. Scherf:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
**GAHD**
1:D1:CHIEF:J. Buber:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
2:P5:SENIOR OFFICER:K. Long:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
E. Xenu:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:Y:
1:P5:SENIOR ANIMAL HEALTH OFFICER:M. Amsi:ITALY:4/12/1944:45:*:YELLOW:
+Y:
ARRAY(0x2f90db8)ARRAY(0x2f90db8)ARRAY(0x2f90e00)ARRAY(0x2f90e00)ARRAY(
+0x2f90de8)ARRAY(0x2f90410)ARRAY(0x2f90e00)        
ARRAY(0x2f90db8)ARRAY(0x2f90db8)ARRAY(0x2f90e00)ARRAY(0x2f90e00)ARRAY(
+0x2f90de8)ARRAY(0x2f90410)ARRAY(0x2f90e00)ARRAY(0x2f90cc8)ARRAY(0x2f9
+0cc8)ARRAY(0x2f90cb0)ARRAY(0x2f90cb0)ARRAY(0x2f8edf8)ARRAY(0x2f90cc8)
+ARRAY(0x2f90cc8)
[download]

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. In fact, I need to know how to dereference the array.

Comment on Accessing Array of Arrays Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Accessing Array of Arrays by choroba (Cardinal) on Oct 02, 2014 at 19:45 UTC
Hasn't this already been solved? لսႽ† ᥲᥒ⚪⟊Ⴙᘓᖇ Ꮅᘓᖇ⎱ Ⴙᥲ𝇋ƙᘓᖇ	[reply]
Re^2: Accessing Array of Arrays by GuiPerl (Acolyte) on Oct 02, 2014 at 19:54 UTC
I thought so, however, I need to implement further conditions on the arrays. I do not know how to split properly.	[reply]
Re^3: Accessing Array of Arrays by Anonymous Monk on Oct 02, 2014 at 21:20 UTC
so read the documentation.	[reply]
Re^4: Accessing Array of Arrays by Anonymous Monk on Oct 03, 2014 at 12:34 UTC
Re^5: Accessing Array of Arrays by Anonymous Monk on Oct 04, 2014 at 02:15 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re: Accessing Array of Arrays by Laurent_R (Canon) on Oct 02, 2014 at 22:44 UTC
Hi GuiPerl, I haven't read thoroughly through your entire code, but I would suggest that this code: `for my $division (keys %AG) { # ... for my $person (@{ $AG{$division} }) { # ...` [download] could possibly be made quite simpler (and also slightly faster, but that probably does not make a measurable difference) with the following syntax: `for my $division (values %AG) { # ... for my $person (@$division) { # ... }` [download] The above is untested, but this is a simple demonstration of the same idea under the Perl debugger: `DB<1> %AG = ( GAHD => [ { name => "foo",}, {name => "bar",} ], GAGD +=> [ { name => "baz",}, {name => "foobar",} ] ); DB<2> x \%AG; 0 HASH(0x6005009f8) 'GAGD' => ARRAY(0x600500680) 0 HASH(0x600500740) 'name' => 'baz' 1 HASH(0x6005006e0) 'name' => 'foobar' 'GAHD' => ARRAY(0x6005007e8) 0 HASH(0x60005f150) 'name' => 'foo' 1 HASH(0x600500848) 'name' => 'bar' DB<3> for $division (values %AG) { for $person (@$division) {print $ +person->{name}, "\n"}}; baz foobar foo bar` [download] I hope this helps.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Accessing Array of Arrays by wrog (Friar) on Oct 02, 2014 at 19:42 UTC
pointer #1: learn to indent (i.e., what the hell is going on with lines 133-190? and why all of the random blank lines?)	[reply]
Re: Accessing Array of Arrays by pme (Monsignor) on Oct 02, 2014 at 20:13 UTC
Hi GuiPerl, It may help. Just copy this snippet below %AG initialization and run. `for my $division (sort keys %AG) { print "$division\n"; my $cnt = 0; print "nr\| NAME \| POSITION \|GRD\|COUNTRY\| +PWD\|DATE_OF_BIRTH\|AGE\|FEMALE\|VACANT\|\n"; for my $person (@{ $AG{$division} }) { printf "%2d\|%-12s\|%30s\|%3s\|%7s\|%3s\|%13s\|%3s\|%6s\|%6s\|\n", $cnt, $person->{NAME}, $person->{POSITION}, $person->{GRADE}, $person->{COUNTRY}, $person->{PWD}, $person->{DATE_OF_BIRTH}, $person->{AGE}, $person->{FEMALE}, $person->{VACANT}; $cnt++; } }` [download]	[reply] [d/l]