Oh, good catch. I should not be deleting both inside of the inner loop! Thanks! I am trying to remove the values after processing because, I can possibly receive an error from this program and I need to know which cities I processed when the error occurred. So, I wont process the same cities again.
It appears that it will delete the zip code and state but not the city. 
 
printf "Before deleting: city= %s state=%s zip= %s\n",
   $city ,
   $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ST' },
   $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ZIP' };

   delete ($location_hash->{ $city });
   delete ($location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ST' }) ;
   delete ($location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ZIP' }) ;

printf "After deleting: city= %s state=%s zip= %s\n",
   $city,
   $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ST' },
   $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ZIP' };

[download]

Output: 

Before deleting: city= Lucketts state=VA zip= 20176
After deleting: city= Lucketts state= zip=

[download]
Ok, I feel like an idiot ... lol It kept printing $city because it was NOT in the hash. $city was declared above. I almost did not admit it but I wanted you all to get a good laugh :) new code: 
for my $city ( keys %$location_hash ) {
   .
   .
   .

   printf "Before deleting: state=%s zip= %s\n",
      $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ST' },
      $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ZIP' };

   delete ($location_hash->{ $city });
   ### delete ($location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ST' }) ;
   ### delete ($location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ZIP' }) ;

   printf "After deleting: state=%s zip= %s\n",
      $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ST' },
      $location_hash->{ $city }->{ 'ZIP' };

} end for loop

[download]
Output: 
Before deleting: state=VA zip= 20176
After deleting: state= zip=
Before deleting: state=VA zip= 20176
After deleting: state= zip=

[download]
Everyone, thanks for your help. Sometimes it helps to have someone to talk to about it and as you explain it you think, "Dah."

In reply to Re^2: How can I delete a key' value from a hash by kevyt
in thread How can I delete a key' value from a hash by kevyt

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