Thanks for the pointers...

Pseudo-hashes only sound like half of what I want - is an array of 350,000 PHs really much more efficient than an array of 350,000 Hashes? Abigail alluded to more efficient use of memory arising from reducing the number of structures.

I think that what I really want is a single something that stores data efficiently - eg an AofA or even an array of packed strings, or even a single huge string, or chunked pieces of string... possibly qubit encoded on chromium atoms for compactness...(slaps head twice, breathes deeply, zen-like calm returns...)

...that provides a transparent Array like interface for accesing collection elements and a Hash like interface to access properties of individual elements.... mmmm, Yet Another Database And Yes Another Database Approach (YADAYADA) is about to be born?... not 8-)

I can see how tieing this into a flat-file db could further save memory, I already use Tie::File arrays to process incoming flat-files.

scurries off to check it all out...

Thanks again to all,

Jeff