http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=1021552


in reply to What would be the easier way

Use a hash table with an array ref for each entry, doing something like push @{ $height{$input} }, $value; after parsing each line into $input and $value; leaving you with something like this:

%height = (
  'house' => [
               string1,
               string2
             ],
  'table' => [
               string3,
               string4
             ]
)

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and @{$height{house}} would be all the values for house in an array

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom