Thanks for input, and sorry for the delay. I needed some sleep. Your comments have helped me tremendously. Besides not respecting the difference between scalar and list context, my hash was being tied to a DB_File dbm. After commenting the tie operation, the results are in line with everyone else.

But now back to DB_File. Do I need to use a different module for complex data structures? Like maybe MLDBM? My original thought was that DB_File could handle it!???

Here is the code that works for me, but without any hash tie: 

   ## increment the sequencer.
    $HoA{sequence} = 0 unless exists $HoA{sequence};
    my $i = ++$HoA{sequence};
    print ("HoA sequence: $HoA{sequence} \n");

    my $date = strftime('%d-%b-%Y %R',localtime);
    $HoA{$i} = [ ($date), map {escape(param($_))} (@FIELDS) ];

    print ("HoA newvalue $i: $HoA{$i} \n" );
    print ("HoA newvalue $i: $HoA{$i}[0] \n" );
    print ("HoA newvalue $i: $HoA{$i}[1] \n" );
    print ("HoA newvalue $i: $HoA{$i}[2] \n" );
    print ("HoA newvalue $i: @{ $HoA{$i} } \n" );
    print ("HoA newvalue $i: " . @{ $HoA{$i} } ."\n" );

    $HoA{test} = [ "aaa", "bbb", "ccc" ];
    print ("HoA test $i: " .   $HoA{test} ."\n" );
    print ("HoA test $i: " .   $HoA{test}[0]  ."\n" );
    print ("HoA test $i: " .   $HoA{test}[1]  ."\n" );
    print ("HoA test $i: " .   $HoA{test}[2]  ."\n" );
    print ("HoA test $i: @{ $HoA{test} } \n" );        # returns list
    print ("HoA test $i: " .  @{ $HoA{test} } ."\n" ); # returns count

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My plans for the $HoA{sequence} was to use it for saving the last sequence number. It would be a way to know where to insert the next node. Alla Oracle sequence. It seems silly to use a number as a hash key, but I want to tie the hash to a dbm. I could use an Array of Arrays, but is that tie-able?

Update After more reading, I am now flattening the array before putting it in a tied hash. I used join and split for this. Here is more code; this works for me: 

sub write_guestbook {
    unless (TieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE, 1)) {
        print strong('Sorry, an error occurred: unable to open ' . $GU
+ESTBOOKFILE),p();
        return;
        }

   ## increment the sequencer.
    $HoA{sequence} = 0 unless exists $HoA{sequence};
    my $i = ++$HoA{sequence};

    my $date = strftime('%d-%b-%Y %R',localtime);
    $HoA{$i} = join(">", ($date), map {escape(param($_)) ." } (@F
+IELDS) );

    unTieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE);
    return( "Thank you <b>". param('First_Name')
                     ."</b>, for signing the guestbook.");
}

sub view_guestbook {
    my $guestbook;
    my @rows;

    unless (TieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE, 0)) {
        print strong('Sorry, an error occurred: unable to open ' . $GU
+ESTBOOKFILE),p();
        return;
        }

    for my $addr (sort keys %HoA) {
        next if $addr eq "sequence";
        my @data =  map {unescape($_)} split( ">", $HoA{$addr} );
        unshift @rows, td(\@data);
        }

    unshift @rows, th(['Entry Date',@FIELDS]);
    $guestbook .= p(
            table({-border=>'1', -hspace=>'5',
                   -cellspacing=>'1', -cellpadding=>'4'},
                  TR(\@rows)));
    unTieLock($GUESTBOOKFILE);
    return ($guestbook);
}

[download]

In reply to Re: Hash of Arrays by Lhamo Latso
in thread Hash of Arrays by Lhamo Latso

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