use warnings; use strict; use Data::Dumper; my $fll= { (4,-1), (2,6), (6,4), (3,5), (5,-1), (99,-1), }; my $ll = {}; sub doit { my $done = { %$fll }; while (%$done) { foreach (keys %$done) { my ($k,$v) = ($_, $done->{$_}); if ($v < 0) { %$ll = (%$ll, ($k, $v)); delete $done->{$k}; } else { if (exists $ll->{$v}) { $ll->{$k} = {$v => $ll->{$v}}; delete $done->{$k}; delete $ll->{$v}; } } } } } doit(); print Dumper $fll,$ll; #### pointo1d@pointo1d-laptop:~$ perl tst.pl $VAR1 = { '6' => 4, '99' => -1, '4' => -1, '3' => 5, '2' => 6, '5' => -1 }; $VAR2 = { '99' => -1, '3' => { '5' => -1 }, '2' => { '6' => { '4' => -1 } } };