use CGI;
my $c = CGI->new();

my %hash = qw/data and stuff/; #however you fill the hash


#Step 1
my @keys = sort keys %hash; # this should maintain the same order, ass
+uming hash doesn't change

#Step 2
my $counter = $c->param('page');


#step 3
my $begin = $counter * $items_per_page;
my $end = $begin + $items_per_page;


#step 4
print @hash{ @keys[ $begin..$end ] }; #deep voodoo
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I thank you for your wisdom but I hope you don't mind me asking you a question or two about your example.

By param do you mean url_param for the page? I thought if it was given by the browser, it had to be url_param. I've never really tried it the way you do everything else..perhaps I should.

We have 13 keys..

--page 2--
$begin would be (2) * 6   =  12
$end would be  12 + 6 =  18.

Page two would display items 12-18 which would actually be 7 numbersm 
+right?
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1) By param I meant a key=value paramater passed to your script via CGI (I'm assuming this is cgi). These come in two forms, a "post" type, and your script reads those via STDIN and "get" types, which come after the question mark in the url. CGI.pm decodes both of these and gives you the value(s) with the method "param". Note that if there are any "posted" paramaters, CGI.pm will only return those when you call param, it will ignore any params in the "get" request.

#incoming url = script.cgi?foo=bar&baz=qux
my $c = CGI->new();
print $c->param('foo'); #prints bar
print $c->param('baz'); #prints qux
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2) Uh, I guess. Thats an implementation issue, doesn't really matter.

You can use a pager routine like this. You need to have your data in an array to fix the order as suggested. Show say 1-6 represents 0-5 in our array so these are the values we pass back to script in start and end.

my $pages     = 25;
my $curr_page = 13;
my $page_size = 6;
my ( $links, $curr_range) = pager("/cgi-bin/script.pl", $pages, $curr_
+page, $page_size);
print "Current page array[$curr_page] display range $curr_range\n\n", 
+$links;


sub pager {
    my ( $link, $total, $curr_page, $page_size ) = @_;
    $link .= $link =~/\?/ ? "&" : '?';
    $curr_page ||= 0;
    $page_size ||= 6;
    my @links;
    my $current_range = 'Unkown';
    for ( my $start = 0; $start < $total; $start += $page_size ) {
        my $end = ($start+$page_size)>$total ? $total : $start+$page_s
+ize;
        my $range = $start+1 == $end ? $start+1 : sprintf "%d-%d", $st
+art+1, $end;
        $end -=1;   # we show 1-10 but this is 0-9 in array terms
        push @links, ($curr_page >= $start and $curr_page <= $end) ? "
+$range\n" 
            : qq!<a href="${link}start=$start&end=$end">$range</a>\n!;
        $current_range = $range if ($curr_page >= $start and $curr_pag
+e <= $end);
    }
  return (join ' | ', @links) , $current_range;
}

__DATA__
Current page array[13] display range 13-18

<a href="/cgi-bin/script.pl?start=0&end=5">1-6</a>
 | <a href="/cgi-bin/script.pl?start=6&end=11">7-12</a>
 | 13-18
 | <a href="/cgi-bin/script.pl?start=18&end=23">19-24</a>
 | <a href="/cgi-bin/script.pl?start=24&end=24">25</a>
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######################################################################
+######## 
my $pagesize = 10; #elements per page

sub setup_pager{

my $arrayref = $_[0];  #pass in @list
my $new = $_[1];       #conditional for new

%pager=(); #empty pager 
my $keytot = scalar @{$arrayref};
#print "$keytot\n"; 

my $key;
#setup pages####################### 
my $count = 1;
foreach $key (@{$arrayref}){
      push @{$pager{$count}},$key;
         if(scalar @{$pager{$count}} > ($pagesize - 1) ){$count++}
   }
################################## 

if($new){&display_page($count)}
   else{ &display_page(1) };
 
}
######################################################################
+########## 
sub display_page{
$page = shift;
my $e = shift || 1; #which entry to display, defaults to 1 
                    #top is admin at 0 

$pagetot = scalar(keys %pager);
$pagerlab->configure(-text => "Page $page of $pagetot");

#blank previous thumbnail entries 
foreach(1..$pagesize){$h->hide('entry',$_)}

#load  page  
foreach my $key (@{$pager{$page}} ){
        $ethumbs{$e}->blank;
        $ethumbs{$e}->read($info{$key}{'thumbnail'});

        $h->itemConfigure ($e, 0,
           #image is read directly in Photo object above 
           -text => $info{$key}{'comment'},
           );

         $h->itemConfigure($e, 1,
           -text => "$info{$key}{'name'}\n$info{$key}{'key'}",
           );

      $h->show('entry',$e);
      $e++;
    }

}
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