Here is what I am doing. The file format is one long line of data that is supposed to be broken into records of 434 characters. I need to read all the records into a hash and then be able to sort the hash(so to speak) based on one of the fields. Once the field is sorted I need to be able to print all the fields that are associated with it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Sorry for it being such a long message, but I figure the more I put the better you all are able to assist me.

$DAT = "/where/my/file/is";

use constant CLAIM_TEMPLATE => 'A8A6A2A2A6A4A30A4A4A8A8A2A11A25A1A8A3A
+8A8A8A8A6A8A8A8A1A10A2A20A2A14A6A4A8A16A20A1A2A1A6A1A14A2A2A8A8A2A8A2
+A1A16A8A1A1A1A10A5A20A15A1A1';
use constant CLAIM_KEYS => qw(
    claim_batch_number
    claim_number
    claim_type
    payment_direct
    pharmacy_number
    chain_number
    pharmacy_name
    reject_code_1
    reject_code_2
    rx_number
    rx_date
    drug_type_code
    national_drug_code
    product_name
    newrefill_indicator
    metric_quantity
    days_supply
    ingredient_cost_billed
    ingredient_cost_paid
    dispensing_fee
    copay
    tax
    total_amount_paid
    ucr_amount
    member_birthdate
    member_sex
    cardholder_number
    member_number
    alternate_card_number
    patient_relationship
    physician_number
    diagnosis_code
    pdm_system_number
    pdm_sponsor_number
    pdm_group_number
    group_number
    generic_code
    mac_number
    daw_indicator
    therapeutic_class_code
    rx_otc_code
    gpi
    exception_code
    override_code
    period_ending
    paid_date
    compound_code
    batch_date
    claim_counter
    mail_order
    benefit_code
    awp
    claim_indicator
    drug_preference_indicator
    pricing_indicator
    drug_manufacturer
    controlled_substance
    patient_last_name
    patient_first_name
    patient_middle_initial
    third_party_code
);
Main:
{
    &Open_File;
    my @claim_records = ();
    while (<CLAIMS>) {
      push(@claim_records, read_record($_));
    }
    my $sort_by = 'claim_number';
 
    &Sort_File();
    &Close_File;
}
sub Sort_File {
    my $sort_by = 'claim_number';
    foreach $record ( sort { $a->{$sort_by} <=> $b->{$sort_by} || $a{$
+sort_by} cmp $b{$sort_by} } @claim_records ) {
      print STDOUT $record->{'claim_number'}, "\n";
    }
}
sub read_record {
    my ($line) = @_;
    my %claim_record = ();
    @claim_record{ CLAIM_KEYS } = unpack(CLAIM_TEMPLATE, $line);
    return \%claim_record;
}
sub Open_File {
  open(CLAIMS, $DAT) || die "CANNOT OPEN FILE";
}
sub Close_File {
  close(CLAIMS);
}
[download]

Update: The claim_number example data includes:
003549
000081
004951
001249
000059
Hope this help.
Prince99

Too Much is never enough...