#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; use warnings; use Test::More qw(no_plan); use Data::Dumper; my $expected = { 'SET1' => [ [ '0','100','BOOK'], [ '1','150','PENCIL'], ], 'SET2' => [ [ '2','111','ERASER'], [ '2','200','PEN'], [ '0','220','BLACKBOARD'], [ '1','300','CHALK'], ] }; my $key; my %hoa; my @arr; while ( ) { chomp; next if (/^\s+/); if ( /^SET/ ) { my @KEY = split (/[\s:]/,$_); $key = $KEY[2]; } elsif (/^\d/) { my @INST = split(/,/,$_); push @arr, [@INST]; } $hoa{$key} = [ @arr]; } Test::More::is_deeply (\%hoa, $expected); print '%hoa' . "\n" . Dumper(\%hoa); __DATA__ SET: SET1 0,100,BOOK 1,150,PENCIL ==== SET: SET2 2,111,ERASER 2,200,PEN 0,220,BLACKBOARD 1,300,CHALK ==== #### not ok 1 # Failed test (datastructures.pl at line 37) # Structures begin differing at: # $got->{SET2}[0][0] = '0' # $expected->{SET2}[0][0] = '2' %hoa $VAR1 = { 'SET1' => [ [ '0', '100', 'BOOK' ], [ '1', '150', 'PENCIL' ] ], 'SET2' => [ $VAR1->{'SET1'}[0], $VAR1->{'SET1'}[1], [ '2', '111', 'ERASER' ], [ '2', '200', 'PEN' ], [ '0', '220', 'BLACKBOARD' ], [ '1', '300', 'CHALK' ] ] }; 1..1 # Looks like you failed 1 tests of 1.