I could then query those out and put them into a sorted hash.
What's that, a sorted hash?
Is there a way that I can have the hash pre-constructed in a seperate file and import the hash into my main program based on the user selection?
No, you can't dump nor load a hash "as is" to or from a file. You can dump and load the content of a hash to or from a file, but if you load it, the hash still needs to be constructed.

You can however make use of DBM files. Then the data will stay on disk (in its own formate), and you have a tied hash as interface. Whether or not that will be faster will depend on the size of the hash, the amount of queries and updates you are performing, the speed of your memory, CPU and disk, the size of your memory, the throughput of your I/O, etc. Only by testing it under production conditions you can be certain what's faster.

Of course, if all we are talking about is a handful of 11 entry hashes, it hardly matters which method you pick.

Abigail

In reply to Re: Managing Client Specific Hashes by Abigail-II
in thread Managing Client Specific Hashes by Grygonos

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