Another approach 
my @records;
$records[1] = { a => 1, d=>4, b=> 2, c=> 3};
$records[2] = { a => 11, d=>14, b=>12}; # didn't define 'c' here
$records[3] = { a => 123, d=>10, e=>200, c=> 21, d=>9888 }; # differen
+t order, 'b' absent

my @keys = qw( a c b); # only want to print a c and b
foreach my $record (@records){
    print join "\t" => 
    map { $_, length($record->{$_}) < 3 ? 
            $record->{$_} : substr($record->{$_},0,1)}  
    grep { defined $record->{$_}}  @keys, "\n";
    print "\n";
}

[download]
Output: 
a	1	c	3	b	2
a	11	b	12
a	1	c	21
artist

In reply to Re: Printing a hash in a specific order? by artist
in thread Printing a hash in a specific order? by Limbic~Region

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