Re: data stuctures

[socketdave]

Replace the {} in your hash definition with ()... If you wanted a hashref, you would use {}, but assign to a scalar:

$rims = {
      GROUP=>$string,
      LNAME=>$string,
      INITS=>$string,
      MBRID=>$string,
      M_DOB=>$string,
      DEPCD=>$string,
    P_FNAME=>$string,
      P_DOB=>$string,
      P_SEX=>$string,
};

update:
Thanks to ikegami for pointing out the bigger problem with your code. The change I suggested will definitely fix your warning but will definitely not make your code do what you expect.