Ooh, it depends on what you mean by 'the first 3'. Key-value pairs in Perl aren't stored in any workable order - you're not *guarenteed* to get them out in the order you put them in. So if your question is, "How do I remove the first three I put in?", the answer is, "Don't put them in to begin with!" Seriously, to give you at least one useful answer, perhaps you don't care about the order, and the first three you get will be fine? Try something like:

%test = (
    a => 1,    b => 2,    c => 3, d => 4, e => 5,
    f => 6,    g => 7,    h => 8, i => 9, j => 10,
);

delete $test{each( %test )};
delete $test{each( %test )};
delete $test{each( %test )};
print map "$_ : $test{$_}\n", keys %test;
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...but don't rely on the order of 'each' - it could turn around and bite ya! Kris, (Also UK...)