in reply to How do I use a hash to store my data

To take the right side of ::= as key is not so wise decision, because it is not unique.
My suggestion, create new data structure :
%hash_of_hash = (); $key = 'S'; $new_data = {}; $new_data{'1'} = 'ASB'; $new_data{'2'} = '#$'; $new_data{'3'} = '$'; $hash_of_hash{$key} = $new_data; # repeat for other data....