my %lookupHash = (); LINE: while(my $line=) { chomp $line; my @fields = split(/\|/, $line); my $prefix = substr($fields[1], 0, 11); # Grab from pos0 to pos9 my $suffix = substr($fields[1], 11); # Grab from pos10 and on $lookupHash{$suffix}->{$prefix} = (); #$lookupHash{$suffix}->{$prefix} = $line; }