You could ... I don't suggest you do so. The idea behind a hash is to use named keys. What you really want to do is create a list of hashes, using hash references.

Better would be to do something like: 

while (my $line = <INFILE>) {
    my @line = split /\t/, $line;

    my %hash = (
        key0 => $line[0],
        key1 => $line[1],
        key2 => $line[2],
        key3 => $line[3],
        key4 => $line[4],
    );

    print "Key 3 is $hash{key3}\n";

    push @lines_of_file, \%hash;
}

[download]
However, even better would be to use a hashslice, similar to an arrayslice. That syntax would look something like: 
while (my $line = <INFILE>) {
    my %hash;
    @hash{qw(key0 key1 key2 key3 key4)} = split /\t/, $line;

    print "Key 3 is $hash{key3}\n";

    push @lines_of_file, \%hash;
}

[download]
The two snippets produce identical results, except the second is, in my mind, easier to handle. Some prefer the first, and that's perfectly fine.

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

In reply to Re: Getting feet wet with hashes by dragonchild
in thread Getting feet wet with hashes by Anonymous Monk

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