Yes, indeed it does help. Thanks.

So, after digging more in my book, I see now that i needed a keys function in it. All is well again.

foreach $key (keys %index) {
       print "deleting $key\n";
#      delete $index{$key} if ($key =~ /$test.+/);
}
[download]

Some of us just need learn the hard way!

Update: I see now an earlier reply by chromatic, mentioned needing the keys function as well, but it was lost on me at that moment. Sorry.