What is a reasonable limit for keys in a hash? (A quick search on PerlMonks for "hash + limit" did not turn up the answer I was looking for.)

PROBLEM: I am maintaining an customer database. Unfortunately, the ISP/Host has repeatedly promised to install MySQL but has yet to do so. Until that happens, I am maintaining the database in flat files.

To update these files, I was planning to:

• load every "email" field into a hash
• do if exists to compare new data to the current database
• update flat file by either inserting a new record or by updating the existing record found in previous step

What do you think, in theory? Will this work? How many records can I expect to work with at a time?

Thank you in advance for your help.

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