Hello Sharad! Thanx for your response. am new to perl n so am looking for help. Sharad as i have said i have the requred data i.e the baby names table and email ids table.. i think u have the structurre with you.. All i have to do is 1. take an email id from emails suppose rajan@yahoo.com . now i have to consider the string before @ i.e rajan 2.Compare rajan with names field in the baby names table .. 3.if there is a match. print the corresponding gender of the baby to this email id.. the baby names tables has a vast list of all possible names. can u help me?