#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use Data::Dumper;

use strict;

my %index = ( 
    'node'            => 1,
    'node-cat'        => 2,
    'node-cat-cat'        => 3,
    'node-cat-cat-cat'    => 4,
    'node-bat-bat-cat'    => 4,
    'node-cat-cat-cat-cat'    => 5,
    'node-cat-bat-bat-bat'    => 5,
    'node-cat-cat-bat-bat'    => 2,
);

my $key;
my $test='node-cat-cat';

print Dumper \%index;

#
# DELETE all child nodes.
#
print "\nDelete children of $test\n";
foreach $key (sort keys %index){
  if ($key =~ /$test.+/){
    print "Deleting $key\n";
    delete $index{$key};
  }
}

print "\nFinal Hash:\n";
print Dumper \%index;