i'm not sure if you were answering my question or trying to ask a question yourself.

In your case, the reason why you get an infinite loop is that the keys() call resets the iterator that is shared among each(), keys() and values();. so in your loop the iterator gets set to the beginning every iteration by the call to keys()

but the docs you pointed to explain that. so i presume you knew that. if this is supposed to be an answer to my query, i aplogize but i dont understand. in particular, my issue only comes up when the hash is tied.

As for moving my query to its own thread, i actually wantd it here, because it appears the OP and i are asking the same question. I figured i'd keep perlmonks organized by keeping the topic all in one place. Are you saying i'll get less attn as a reply rather than an original post?

Thanks.