foreach (sort keys %tickets)
    {
    my $ticket = ((split " ",$_)[0]);
    my %tick_inf;                            #hash to hold ticket info
    (%tick_inf = ars_GetEntry($rem,$schema,$ticket))
        || warn "Could not retrieve $ticket: $ars_errstr";    #populat
+e the hash with the ticket info
    my $field_data=$ticket;
    foreach (@$afield_names){    #these are the fields that we have be
+en asked to grab.
        $field_data .= " " . $sep;                #join the previous d
+ata with the seperator 
        unless (exists $hfield_names->{$_})
        {
            print "Bad field name -- $_\n";
            next;
        }
        unless (exists $tick_inf{$hfield_names->{$_}})
        {
            print $hfield_names->{$_} . "\n";
            print "Bad ticket info identifier -- $_ does not relate to
+: " . $hfield_names->{$_} . "\n";
            next;
        }
        unless ( defined($tick_inf{$hfield_names->{$_}}))
        {
            $field_data .= " ";
            next;
        }
        if (ref($tick_inf{ $hfield_names->{$_} }) eq "ARRAY")    #For 
+array references
        {
            my $data;
            foreach (@{ $tick_inf{ $hfield_names->{$_} } }) #foreach o
+f the values of the array ref
            {
                $data .= expand_hash($_);        #it's always a hash, 
+so expand it out (sub returns a string)
            }
            $field_data .= $data;
            next;                        #and hit the next value
        }
        if ($d_fields->{$_})                    #For dates
        {
            $field_data .= format_date(
                $tick_inf{ $hfield_names->{$_} }
                );                    #format the date (sub routine)
            next;                        #and hit the next value
        }
        if ($l_fields->{$_})                    #if the field is a sel
+ection value
        {
            $field_data .= $l_fields->{$_}->{         #change number i
+nto the name:
                    $tick_inf{            #fill the data from the $lis
+t field hash    
                    $hfield_names->{$_}         #
                        }            #
                    };
            next;
        }
        $field_data .= $tick_inf{ $hfield_names->{$_} };    #
                                    #value is in the ticket
        }#close foreach @$fields
       #more stuff which gets rid of $field_data
    }
[download]

You are storing all the information in some datastructure. It just doesn't happen to be a HoLoHoL that you mentioned earlier. It's that string $field_data. Processing each ticket individually means that when you're done with the loop, there is nothing in memory but what you had before you entered the loop. :-)

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

But, the $field_data variable is undefed at the end of the loop @$fields loop (see my update). The @$afields array is only retrieving the 90 fields per ticket. Again, at max that field is about 3k at the end, so it's not an ever increasing variable - also note how it is redefined at the start of every new ticket (below first foreach), so I really don't think that $field_data is causing the memory issues (yes it's not the most efficient way of doing things, but it is NOT sucking up 150 meg of RAM on the server).

Why don't you try writing to the file as you go and clearing $field_data, rather than storing it all up until the end? That could be the problem.

Do you get the same/similar memory usage with just a call to ars_GetEntry in the loop and no other processing? If not, then you're losing memory somewhere else in the loop.