Hi, I have a question regarding about hash. I have two text files, userinput.txt (USERINPUT) and database.txt (CURINFILE). In the userinput.txt, it has all the values the user want to search using that: 
e.g. 
Mass     Time 
100.20   0.55
150.34   0.23
223.45   1.22
223.44

[download]
sometimes time value is not known so it will be remained blank. The database.txt consists of a library that the user want to search through using the values from userinput.txt. 
database.txt:
Mass    Time    Name    Type
223.41  1.20    John    Boy  
111.23  5.21    Betty   Girl
100.25  0.56    Ken     Boy
.
.
.

[download]
So the idea is that after searching the database, it will return the values (print out in new textfile) of John and Ken if both the user inputs and library match (there is tolerance set by user to allow search to be less rigid) based on the mass and time or mass alone (if no time given). User can input the tolerance of the mass and time (range).

$masstoleranceinput and $rttoleranceinput refer to the user input (allow them to give +/- (range)) to be less rigid in the search. 

e.g. for the above userinput, it will return this values in new textfi
+le
Mass     Time  Name    Type
100.20   0.55  Ken     Boy
223.45   1.22  John    Boy
223.44         John    Boy

[download]

So what I have here in my code is: 

#### Put User input values into hashes in order to search database###
open (CURINFILE,'database.txt') or die $!;
    while (<CURINFILE>)
    {
     open (INPUTFILE,'userinput.txt') or die $!;
     
     while (my $line=<INPUTFILE>) {
         chomp($line);
         (my $massinput,my $rtinput) = split /\t/, $line;
         $hash{$massinput} = $rtinput;
         
}
     
    use Data::Dumper;
        print %hash; #test if userinput values are stored
####### Specify tolerance (user input) ###############
  
    print "\n Set desired tolerance\n ";
    print "-------------------------- ";
    print "\n Mass tolerance: ";
    $masstoleranceinput = <STDIN>;
    chomp $masstoleranceinput;

    print " Time tolerance: ";
    $rttoleranceinput = <STDIN>;
    chomp $rttoleranceinput;    
    
 ######### Start Search Database ############
  push @full_data , [split /\t/] while (<CURINFILE>);
  open OUT1, ">$path/Results.txt" or die "error couldn't open output f
+ile"; 
  print OUT1 "Mass\tTime(Min)\tName\tType\n";
 
  for $arr_ref1(@full_data)
   {    
    for my $index1 (1) #mass
    { 
     for my $index3(2) #Time
     {    
      for my $index2 (0) #Name
       {
        for my $index4 (3) #Type
        {
        $name1 =$$arr_ref1[$index2];  
        $mode = $$arr_ref1[$index4];          
                   
        # Mass (+/- tolerance set by user)
        $mass1 = $$arr_ref1[$index1];
    $masst1 = $$arr_ref1[$index1] + $masstoleranceinput;  
    $masst2 =  $$arr_ref1[$index1] - $masstoleranceinput; 
            
    # Time (+/- tolerance set by user)
    $rt =  $$arr_ref1[$index3];
    $rt1 = $$arr_ref1[$index3] + $rttoleranceinput;  
    $rt2 =  $$arr_ref1[$index3] - $rttoleranceinput; 
        
   # Condition #stuck here      
            
   if (( $masst2 <= $massinput && $massinput <= $masst1 ) && ( $rt2 <=
+ $rtinput && $rtinput <= $rt1 ))
   {
    my $result1 = "$mass1\t$rt\t$name1\t$mode";
    print OUT1 $result1;                
    } #end of if loop  
                   
     else{
          if (( $masst2 <= $massinput && $massinput <= $masst1 ))
       {
          my $result2 = "$mass1\t$rt\t$name1\t$mode";
      print OUT1 $result2;       
       } #end of if loop  
      }
} # End of while loop

[download]
Everything works ok until the condition (criteria). I am kind of stuck at the condition part. Is there a way to set a condition for the hash? Or is my coding wrong? I have tried this initially for the upper part of the code: 

for my $array_input(@userinputdata)
     {
    $massinput = $$array_input[0];
    $rtinput = $$array_input[1];
    
     }

[download]
But it will only return the last line of the search during the condition instead of everything. So I was wondering to use hash? I have read up in internet on hashes but still could not understand how I can use that to search database.

Pardon for the long post. I appreciate for some help/advice.

Thanks! :)

In reply to Search based on user input and return values by hellohello1

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