Hello,
I hope this helps in some way.
I do a similar thing with a project I'm working on.
When a new user signs up I take the first letter of their name and then depending what it is, I open up a specific folder and file. I have files names "ag.dat" "hn.dat" and so on....

#FIND OUT WHAT THE FIRST LETTER OF USERNAME IS &
#SET FILE NAME TO OPEN

$_      = $username;
      if (/^[a-g]/i) { $filename = 'ag';}
   elsif (/^[h-n]/i) { $filename = 'hn';}
   elsif (/^[o-u]/i) { $filename = 'ou';}
   elsif (/^[v-z]/i) { $filename = 'vz';}
   elsif (/^[0-9]/i) { $filename = '09';}
   else              { $errormsg = 'Cannot open file';
                       &Printerror;}

#SET THE COMPLETE FILE DESTINATION
$dirname = "/absoulute/path/$filename.dat";

#OPEN THE FILE
open(FILEHANDLE, "$dirname");
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Not sure if I've quite understood what your asking. Let me know.

ThAtH0M