i am using use vars qw(%seg000) - where %seg000 is the hash name . this will declare it as a global hash here is a snippet of code :

use vars qw(%seg000);
%seg000 = ();

#ONE OF THE MANY SUBROUTINES WHERE THE HASH IS ASSIGNED VAUES
sub ProcessSegment000 {
  my $dataline = shift;
  $seg000{fileid} = substr($dataline,0,3);
  print "INSIDE the segment : " . $seg000{fileid} . "\n"; -#THIS PRINT
+ STATEMENT SHOWS THAT THE HASH NOW CONTAINS DATA

  $seg000{filetype} = substr($dataline,3,3);
  $seg000{fileversionid} = substr($dataline,6,5);
  $seg000{impactionind} = substr($dataline,11,1);
  $seg000{expactionind} = substr($dataline,12,1);
  $seg000{mornetcaseid} = substr($dataline,13,30);
}

sub readfile -- THIS SUB FIRES THE ABOVE SUBROUTINE
{
    my $myfile = shift;
    while (!eof $myfile){
    chomp($input = readline($myfile));

        my $segmentno = substr($input,0,3);

        eval "\%seg000 = &ProcessSegment$segmentno(\$input,\\\%seg000)
+";
        print "OUTISDE THE SUBROUTINE " . $seg000{fileid};
#THIS PRINT STATEMENT SHOWS NO DATA IN THE HASH.
        }
}



$file="c\:\\0008022.fnm";  -the data file to be read

open FILEHANDLE, "<$file";
 readfile(\*FILEHANDLE);
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