I'm trying to start a database of sorts, using hashes named as users that contain the user information such as phone, location, etc. What I want to do is be able to call the proper hash based on what the user inputs into the command line, i.e. what would normally be

"The $desired_info for $Userhash{name} is: $Userhash{$desired_info}."

is instead

"The $desired_info for $<$userinputgoeshere, input name matches the name of the hash>{name} is: $<$userinputagain>{$desired_info}."

This seems extraordinarily complicated, but I'm too much of a neophyte to be able to fix it. Heres the actual code: 
#!/usr/bin/perl

#Example hashes, ideally I'd like to be able to store/recall hashes an
+d be able to generate new
#ones. 

my %BobSmith = (

    name => "Bob Smith",
    phone =>"123-456-7890",
    street =>"13245 Main Drive",
    city =>"Salt Lake City",
    state =>"Utah",
    zip =>"98765",
);
my @BobSmithk = keys(%BobSmith);

my %JimJones = (

    name => "Jim Jones",
    phone =>"098-765-4321",
    street =>"1000 J St",
    city =>"Jonestown",
    state =>"Utah",
    zip =>"12345",
);
my @JimJonesk = sort(keys(%JimJones));

mainmenu();

sub mainmenu {
    print "Request: \n 
        1. Keys \n 
        2. Specific Records \n 
        3. Quit \n 
        Selection: "; 
    my $choice = <>;
    if ($choice == 1){
        showkeys();
    }
    elsif ($choice == 2){
        records();
    }
    elsif ($choice == 3){
        exit;
    }
    else {
    print "Sorry, that selection isn't possible. 
Please pick again.\n";
    mainmenu();
    }
}

sub showkeys {    
    print "Input user's first name: ";
    my $userfirstname = <>;
    $userfirstname = trim($userfirstname);
    print "\nInput user's last name: ";
    my $userlastname = <>;
    $userlastname = trim($userlastname);
    my $userfull = $userfirstname.$userlastname;
    print "$userfull\n";

[download]
#This was just to see if I was trimming the input correctly 

print "The keys for $$userfull{name} are: @$userfullk\n";
mainmenu();
}

[download]
#The user enters the desired name, which is called as a variable and used to find the hash of the same name and list out the information on file in the form of keys 

sub records {
print "Input user's first name: ";
my $userfirst = <>;
$userfirst = trim($userfirst);
print "Input user's last name: ";
my $userlast = <>;
$userlast = trim($userlast);
$userfullname = $userfirst.$userlast;
$userfullname = trim($studentfullname);
print "$userfullname\n";

[download]
#This was just to see if I was trimming the input correctly 
print "\nInput record: ";
my $record = <>;
$record = trim($record); 
print "The $record of $$userfullname{name} is: 
$$userfullname{$record}\n"; 
mainmenu();
}

sub trim($)
{
    my $string = shift;
    $string =~ s/^\s+//;
    $string =~ s/\s+$//;
    return $string;
}

[download]

Everything runs fine, but when I ask for the keys or try to look up a specific bit of info, I get something like "The keys for are: ". Trying to use the input as a variable in place of the actual hash name doesn't seem to be working at all.

I'm sure there are better ways to do this, is there a particular command I should be using? Thank you!

In reply to Using a variable in place of a hash name when calling the value of a specific key by kelder

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