cool thanks for the detail, but now I have played a little with certain fields of a /etc/passwd file and I am back to the original problem...its printing the hash address not the actual values. All I need is to store the name,uid,gid and comments into a hash from the @{$dublin_aref} which is the glob of passwd files opened via <FILE>. thank you

use strict;
use warnings;
use diagnostics;

my @dublinaray  = glob("/home/user/passwd.*");
my $dublin_aref = \@dublinaray;
my %dublin_hosts = ();
my (@tmp_values,@dub_values,) = ();
my ($dub_key,$name,$uid,$gid,$cmts,$dub_values);

parse_file();

sub parse_file {

 foreach my $element ( @{$dublin_aref} ) {
  { local *FILE;
    open (FILE, "+<$element") or die "dublin file '$element' did not o
+pen: $!";
    local $/  = undef;
    ($dub_key)    = $element =~ m|\.(\w+\.\w+)\z|i;
    ($name) = (split /:/, <FILE>) [0];
    ($uid)  = (split /:/, <FILE>) [2];
    ($gid)  = (split /:/, <FILE>) [3];
    ($cmts) = (split /:/, <FILE>) [4];
    @tmp_values = ($name,$uid,$gid,$cmts);
    $dub_values = \@tmp_values;
    push ( @{$dublin_hosts{$dub_key}}, $dub_values );
  }
}

  while ( ($dub_key,$dub_values) =  each %dublin_hosts ) {
    print Dumper("$dub_key => @{$dub_values}\n");
     }
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The code below works, yet I am still trying to figure out why the above code does not:

open (FILE, "+</cygdrive/c/temp/passwd.oftappp1.hpux");
my (@values,$name,$uid,$gid,$comments) = ();
foreach my $file (<FILE>) {
    ($name)     = (split /:/ , $file) [0];
    ($uid)      = (split /:/ , $file) [2];
    ($gid)      = (split /:/ , $file) [3];
    ($comments) = (split /:/ , $file) [4];
    @values     = ($name,$uid,$gid,$comments);
    print join ("\t", @values,"\n");
}
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I ran it in debug mode and I am seeing:

perl -d uid_check.pl

Loading DB routines from perl5db.pl version 1.22
Editor support available.

Enter h or `h h' for help, or `man perldebug' for more help.

main::(uid_check.pl:22):        $ENV{"PATH"} = qq(/usr/bin:/bin:/home/
+dbsmith:/home/dbsmith/McGaw);
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:23):        delete @ENV{qw (IFS CDPATH ENV KSH_ENV
+ BASH_ENV)};
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:27):        open (LOG, ">>/tmp/uid_ck.log") or war
+n "uid_ck.log did not open $!";
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:29):        my $overide = $SIG{__DIE__};    ## get
+ error handler currently assigned 2 die
main::(uid_check.pl:30):        $SIG{__DIE__} = sub {
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:34):        };
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:38):        my @dublinaray  = glob("/home/dbsmith/
+passwd.*");
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:39):        my $dublin_aref = \@dublinaray;
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:40):        my @mcgawaray   = glob("/home/dbsmith/
+McGaw/passwd.*");
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:41):        my $mcgaw_aref  = \@mcgawaray;
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:42):        my (%dublin_hosts,%mcgaw_hosts) = ();
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:43):        my (@tmp_values,@dub_values,)   = ();
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:44):        my ($dub_key,$name,$uid,$gid,$cmts,$mc
+g_key,$dub_values);
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:52):            foreach my $element ( @{$dublin_ar
+ef} ) {
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:52):            foreach my $element ( @{$dublin_ar
+ef} ) {
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:53):               { local *FILE;
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:53):               { local *FILE;
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:54):                open (FILE, "+<$element") or d
+ie "dublin file '$element' did not open: $!";
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:55):                local $/      = undef;
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:56):                ($dub_key)    = $element =~ m|
+\.(\w+\.\w+)\z|i;
  DB<1> n
main::(uid_check.pl:57):                ($name) = (split /:/, <FILE>) 
+[0];  ## ONLY ONE THAT WORKS ##
  DB<1> print $dub_key;
admbakp1.hpux
  DB<2> n
main::(uid_check.pl:58):                ($uid)  = (split /:/, <FILE>) 
+[2];
  DB<2> print $name;
root
  DB<3> n
main::(uid_check.pl:59):                ($gid)  = (split /:/, <FILE>) 
+[3];
  DB<3> print $uid;
Use of uninitialized value in print at (eval
        31)[/opt/perl/lib/5.8.2/perl5db.pl:618] line 2, <FILE> chunk 1
+ (#1)
    (W uninitialized) An undefined value was used as if it were alread
+y
    defined.  It was interpreted as a "" or a 0, but maybe it was a mi
+stake.
    To suppress this warning assign a defined value to your variables.

    To help you figure out what was undefined, perl tells you what ope
+ration
    you used the undefined value in.  Note, however, that perl optimiz
+es your
    program and the operation displayed in the warning may not necessa
+rily
    appear literally in your program.  For example, "that $foo" is
    usually optimized into "that " . $foo, and the warning will refer 
+to
    the concatenation (.) operator, even though there is no . in your
    program.

Use of uninitialized value in print at (eval 31)[/opt/perl/lib/5.8.2/p
+erl5db.pl:618] line 2, <FILE> chunk 1.
        diagnostics::warn_trap('Use of uninitialized value in print at
+ (eval 31)[/opt/perl/li...') called at (eval 31)[/opt/perl/lib/5.8.2/
+perl5db.pl:618] line 2
        eval '($@, $!, $^E, $,, $/, $\\, $^W) = @saved;package main; $
+^D = $^D | $DB::db_stop;
print $uid;;

;' called at /opt/perl/lib/5.8.2/perl5db.pl line 618
        DB::eval called at /opt/perl/lib/5.8.2/perl5db.pl line 3314
        DB::DB called at uid_check.pl line 59

  DB<4> q
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