One problem is that your hash is empty after you tried to enter the values - there is no assignment to the hash.

If you want to know the values of your hash, here's a little trick:

use Data::Dumper;
my %passwords; # please don't name your data structure
               # %new_hash. That's not a telling name at 
               # all
while(1)
{
        print "Please enter your first name\n";
        chomp ($fname =<STDIN>);
           {
                last;
           }
        print "Please enter your last name\n";
        chomp ($lname =<STDIN>);
           {
                last;
           }
        print "Please enter a password\n";
        chomp ($password =<STDIN>);
           {
                last;
           }
        print "Please enter 'done' or hit your return key\n";
        chomp ($ending =<STDIN>);
        if ($ending eq '\n' or 'done')
           {
                last;
           }
}

my $username = "$lname, $fname";

# here comes the magic:
print Dumper \%passwords; # you'll see that the hash 
                          # is empty.

# rest of the script goes here
[download]

You have to actually store the passwords:

while(1)
{
        print "Please enter your first name\n";
        chomp ($fname =<STDIN>);
           {
                last;
           }
        print "Please enter your last name\n";
        chomp ($lname =<STDIN>);
           {
                last;
           }
        print "Please enter a password\n";
        chomp ($password =<STDIN>);
           {
                last;
           }
        # important: store the passwords in %passwords
        $passwords{$fname} = $password;

        print "Please enter 'done' or hit your return key\n";
        chomp ($ending =<STDIN>);
        if ($ending eq '\n' or 'done')
           {
                last;
           }
}
[download]

Additionally the usual tips apply: always use strict; use warnings and declare your variables.

To answer your original question: to achieve case insensitivity, use lc or uc to convert the strings (for example first name) to all lower or all upper case, and only then store them.

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.