Please check your script for syntax errors:

$ perl -c script.pl
syntax error at /tmp/test.pl line 45, near "if"
syntax error at /tmp/test.pl line 61, near "}"
$
[download]

some comments upon your code.

• whole code: a clear indentation would help reading and debugging the code! perltidy can help with this!
• line 31: why do you use s/// here? m// should do the job! The replacement of > (at the beginning of the string) is not needed here as you split the string and use the second part. So why do you remove the >?
• line 42: %positions is a Hash-of-Arrays; why are you trying to dereference it as a Hash-of-Hashes?
• line 44: what's that single @? Maybe you want to dereference the array reference in $positions{$key}? If so, you still should rename $value to $position!
• What do you think $value is for, as you don't use it in your for-loop.
• line 49: why are you still comparing a string length with an array reference?
• I stopped analyzing the following lines. But it looks like as you are not aware about what you have stored in $positions{$key}

As tilly already mentioned, you should start learning about perl's complex data structures. Recommended documentation:

• perlreftut
• perldsc

Update:

• comment on line 42 added.

---

---

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.