Hi,
  If you are using strict you'll need to my that $students variable. Such as:-
my $students="students.txt";

[download]
Same goes for @student, $key and your hash. Also * is special in terms of a regexp, so you'll want a \ in front.

Here is how I'd do it:-
#!/usr/bin/perl 

use strict;
use warnings;

open(FH, ">students.txt");
    print FH "Perry*Steve*234\nSmith*Jane*456\nJones*Mary*567\n";
close(FH);

my %hash;
my $students = "students.txt";
open(FH, $students) or die("Could not open file!");
while (<FH>) {
     my ($firstname, $lastname, $password) = split (/\*/, $_);
     $hash{"$firstname $lastname"} = $password;
}#while

[download]
You can use parenthasis when defining a has key so no need to create the extra $key variable.
Actually, do you have a strong reason for using * rather than the pipe symbol |? Would probably be better with the pipe symbol. How about:- 
#!/usr/bin/perl 

use strict;
use warnings;

open(FH, ">students.txt");
    print FH "Perry|Steve|234\nSmith|Jane|456\nJones|Mary|567\n";
close(FH);

my %hash;
my $students = "students.txt";
open(FH, $students) or die("Could not open file!");
while (<FH>) {
     my ($firstname, $lastname, $password) = split (/\|/, $_);
     $hash{"$firstname $lastname"} = $password;
}#while

[download]
Aghhh... I love newbie questions, makes me feel like I know stuff ;)

Lyle

In reply to Re: Open a file and put the contents in a hash with a value by cosmicperl
in thread Open a file and put the contents in a hash with a value by trenchwar

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