Thanks for the reply. I don't think my requirements are particularly unusual, just that I am not doing it right.

I have a sample that has multiple tests. When a test is assigned to a sample it has a temporary id. After it is verified it is given a permanent id.

I want to put the tests in the hash indexed by their ids for quick retrival by their id and change the id when necessary.

Did I mention that sample and test are objects (kind of - as I don't have any OO training they are quite quasimodo in their OOness). Which means if I normalise and the test id is set in the sample object then I cannot access that id from the test object.

I am probably making things too hard for myself. I have read some of the OO tutorials, but when I get to the bits that I don't know and (definitely) need the language of the tutorial suddenly becomes "encrypted". I'll keep trying.

Thanks again

In reply to Re^2: Dynamic hash keys by markdibley
in thread Dynamic hash keys by markdibley

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