Pretty elementary problem, I'm sure, but: 
#!/usr/bin/perl 

open(LANGUAGES,"languages.txt") || die "cannot open cities";
%lang_dev = <LANGUAGES>;
$hard_reference = \%lang_dev;       # \ creates reference to %lang_dev
print "Enter a programming language: "; chomp($lang = <STDIN>);
print "\n";
print "$lang was originally developed by $$hard_reference{$lang}.\n";
        # "$" to dereference hash so value can be accessed
sleep (3);

[download]
and languages.txt: 

Perl, Larry Wall
Java, James Gosling
C, Dennis Ritchie
C++, Bjarne Stroustrup

produces (when entering Perl):

Perl was originally developed by .

Any insite? Thanks!

Originally posted as a Categorized Question.

In reply to The following returns no value for $lang by tekniko

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