Hi all, I've seen a number of emails on this subject but unfortunately haven't managed to find a solution to the specific issue I'm having.

Essentially I am loading data into a hash of hashes, one field of which contains a sub routine that I need to perform if all the keys match.

That part is all working fine - except for the fact that unless I turn off strict I can't use it! :)

Sample data I'm loading into the hash is:

000.01|RECD_TYPE|01-03|CHAR(3)|RECORD TYPE|check_char
000.02|DATE_TIME| 05-21|CHAR(17)|TIME STAMP|check_time
000.03|DATE_ISSUE|23-30|CHAR(8)|DATE OF ISSUE|check_date

010.01|RECD_TYPE|01-03|CHAR(3)|RECORD TYPE|check_char 
010.02|PROP_NUMB|05-11|PIC(9999999)|PROPERTY NUMBER|check_numeric
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I'm loading the data into my hash of hashes table via

open( $record_layout, '<', $RECORD_LAYOUT )
        or die "Open file $RECORD_LAYOUT  failed $!";

#Load record formats into a hash. If record layout changes simply chan
+ge layout
while ($record = <$record_layout>) {
    chomp $record;
    my @fields = split(/\|/, $record);
    my @keys   = split(/\./, $fields[0]);
    $keys[1] =~ s/\s*$//;
    $keys[1] = int($keys[1]); 
 
    if (! $rec_layout_hash{$keys[0]}) {         
        $rec_layout_hash{$keys[0]} = {};
    }
    else {
        $rec_layout_hash{$keys[0]}->{$keys[1]} = {};
    }

   $rec_layout_hash{$keys[0]}->{$keys[1]} =
          {'field_type'     => $fields[1],
           'chars_position' => $fields[2],
           'field_length'   => $fields[3],
           'sub_routine'    => $fields[5],
         };
}
 
close $record_layout;
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Then reading the hashes to obtain and call the subroutine via

my $input_file;
my $line;        
open( $input_file, '<', $ARGV[0] )
        or die "Open file $ARGV[0] failed $!";

while ($line = <$input_file>) {
    chomp $line;
    my @fields = split(/\|/, $line);

#Check if record is a valid record type    
    if ($fields[0] !~ /$record_types/) {
        fatal_error (2, "record contains invalid file type fields[0] -
+ Record: $line");
        exit 0;
    }
#Check if number of fields in record matches the number in the record 
+layout
    
    my $expected_nbr_of_fields_in_record = keys %{$rec_layout_hash{$fi
+elds[0]}};
    my $actual_fields_count = @fields;
    
    if ($actual_fields_count != $expected_nbr_of_fields_in_record) {
        fatal_error  (1, "record does not contain correct number of fi
+elds - Expected $expected_nbr_of_fields_in_record but record containe
+d $actual_fields_count fields -  $line");
        exit 0;
    }
#Process each field from the input data one field at a time
    for (my $i = 1; $i <= $actual_fields_count; $i++) {
            my $j = $i;
            $j -= 1;                              #$j is minus 1 becau
+se the fields array starts at zero, whilst the actual field number in
+ the record array starts at 1
    
#Determine which sub routine is required to check the data from the re
+cord_layout hash    
          my $sub_routine = $rec_layout_hash{$fields[0]}{$i}{"sub_rout
+ine"};

#Call sub routine and pass the actual field day and the expected lengt
+h of the fiel
          my $value1 = $fields[$j];
          my $value2 = $rec_layout_hash{$fields[0]}{$i}{"field_length"
+};
          
          &{ $sub_routine } ($value1, $value2);
    }
}
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It's when I then call the sub routine that I get the message
Can't use string ("check_char") as a subroutine ref while "strict refs" in use

Is there any way I can call the sub routine - which will be in a separate module (not that that should make any difference) without turned off strict? Thanks for your time Kev

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