1. I notice you call your hash %ref, but return %rec - maybe this is your problem?

2. You know $rec_ref is OK, and you know your subroutine's hash is not OK, and you know that %ref = %$rec_ref is OK (because we've told you ;-) ). So work backwards to find out where the bug is. Use perl -d and run through this subroutine, checking your hash using the "x" command, e.g. x %ref.

dave hj~