Let me try to elaborate.. This code: 
foreach my $id (0..$x)
{
  my $cat = $ids{$id};
  if(!$ret{$ids{$id}}{'count'})
  {
    $ret{$ids{$id}}{'count'} = 0;
    $ret{$ids{$id}}{'head_count'} = 'head_count';
    $ret{$ids{$id}}{'cat_count'} = 'cat_count';
    $ret{$ids{$id}}{'subcat_count'} = 'subcat_count';
  }
  $ret{$ids{$id}}{'count'}++;
}

[download]
.. builds a hash where the key is something like "a.b.c.d". .. The problem is the total for a.b.c needs to be a sum of all the categories beneath it a.b.c.* and thus the top level category is the sum of "a.*".

This "summation" is handled by the next snippet: 
while(my($key,$val) = each(%ret))
{
  my @parts = split(/\./, $key);
  my $id = '';
  foreach my $add (@parts)
  {
    $id .= $add;
    if($id eq $key)
    {
      next;
    }
    if(!$ret{$id}{'count'})
    {
      $ret{$id}{'count'} = 0;
      $ret{$id}{'head_count'} = 'head_count';
      $ret{$id}{'cat_count'} = 'cat_count';
      $ret{$id}{'subcat_count'} = 'subcat_count';
    }
    $ret{$id}{'count'} += $ret{$key}{'count'};
    $id .= '.';
  }

}

[download]

In the example where $key = 'a.b.c.d' each loop of the foreach loop would look something like:
Loop #1: a
Loop #2: a.b
Loop #3: a.b.c
Loop #4: a.b.c.d. (skipped)

[download]

I hope this clarifies!

- dEvNuL

In reply to Re^4: Architectural question... by devnul
in thread Architectural question... by devnul

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