My system uses arrayrefs of arrayrefs containing what are in effect key-value pairs, e.g.: 

$pairs = [
     ['fish','fry'],
     ['clam','bake'],
     ['wiener','roast'],
];

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It uses this data structure rather than a hash because it works better with the algorithms used in some places. I would like to access the data, however, as if it were a hashref, with similar syntax.

Here is a construct I came up with: 

my $party = {map{@$_}@$pairs}->{'fish'};

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The value 'fry' will be assigned to $party.

The one caution is that if there is more than one element in $pairs with the key 'fish' (there should not be, but...), there may be problems. I believe the last element in the array with this key will be used.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? Is there a better way to do what I am describing?

In reply to Pushing arrays into hashes by BiffBaker

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