I have a hash of hashes.

Some of the values that I put into hash keys have "special" characters
in them (like "\" or "_"). When these values end up as keys in a hash,
I get mixed results.

Sometimes displaying the value of the key itself will chop off one of
the special characters, but leave the rest.

Also, I can display elements of the hash of hashes using:

foreach $item ( keys %hashname )

But if I plug the keys in from another source (such as from an array),
I cannot display the elements when those keys I plugged in contain "$".
I've also seen it happen when keys I plug in contain a "_", but I
can't reproduce it in the example below.

So bottom line question is: How do I work with hash keys when some of
the values could possibly contain special characters???

Script and output below:


Perl Script:
#! /usr/bin/perl
use Data::Dumper;
%ownerhash = (
'Domain1\usera' => {
'\\server100\Sharename1' => {fcount =>5, fsize =>100},
'\\server200\Sharename_2' => {fcount =>5, fsize =>100}
},
'Domain2\userb' => {
'\\server100\Sharename1' => {fcount =>5, fsize => 100},
'\\server200\Sharename_2' => {fcount =>5, fsize => 100}
},
'Domain3\userc' => {
'\\server100\Sharename1' => {fcount =>5, fsize => 100},
'\\server200\Sharename_2' => {fcount =>5, fsize => 100},
'\\server300\Sharename3$' => {fcount =>5, fsize => 100},
'\\server400\Sharename_4$' => {fcount =>5, fsize => 100}
}
);
my $hashcount = scalar(keys(%ownerhash));
print "\n------------------\nCount of keys in ownerhash is:
$hashcount\n";
print "\n------------------\nPrint values for keys in ownerhash:\n\n";
while (($key, $value) = each %ownerhash) {print map {"\t$_\n"}
"$key=>$value, "};

# print the whole thing
print "\n------------------\nPrint the whole ownerhash:\n\n";
foreach $fileowner ( keys %ownerhash )
{
print "\t fileowner: $fileowner\n";
foreach $sharename ( keys %{ $ownerhash{$fileowner} } )
{
print "\t\t sharename: $sharename\n";
print "\t\t\t\t fcount:
$ownerhash{$fileowner}{$sharename}{fcount} \n";
print "\t\t\t\t fsize: $ownerhash{$fileowner}{$sharename}{fsize}
\n";
}
}

print "\n------------------\nPrint based on key values pulled from
arrays:\n\n";

my @fileownerarray = ('Domain1\usera','Domain2\userb','Domain3\userc');
my @sharearray =
('\\server100\Sharename1','\\server200\Sharename_2 ','\\server300\Sharename3$','\\server400\Sharename _4$');
printf "%-15s%-30s%-8s%-8s\n",("owner","share","fcount","fsize");
foreach $owner (@fileownerarray) {
foreach $share (@sharearray) {
printf
"%-15s%-30s%-8s%-8s\n",($owner,$share,$ownerhash{$owner}{$share}{fc ount},$ownerhash{$owner}{$share}{fsize});
}
}

Output:

c:\OwnerSnap>perl hashtester.pl

------------------
Count of keys in ownerhash is: 3

------------------
Print values for keys in ownerhash:

Domain2\userb=>HASH(0x18aa740),
Domain3\userc=>HASH(0x18aa650),
Domain1\usera=>HASH(0x18aa998),

------------------
Print the whole ownerhash:

fileowner: Domain2\userb
sharename: \server200\Sharename_2
fcount: 5
fsize: 100
sharename: \server100\Sharename1
fcount: 5
fsize: 100
fileowner: Domain3\userc
sharename: \server200\Sharename_2
fcount: 5
fsize: 100
sharename: \server300\Sharename3$
fcount: 5
fsize: 100
sharename: \server100\Sharename1
fcount: 5
fsize: 100
sharename: \server400\Sharename_4$
fcount: 5
fsize: 100
fileowner: Domain1\usera
sharename: \server200\Sharename_2
fcount: 5
fsize: 100
sharename: \server100\Sharename1
fcount: 5
fsize: 100

------------------
Print based on key values pulled from arrays:

owner share fcount fsize
Domain1\usera \server100\Sharename1 5 100
Domain1\usera \server200\Sharename_2 5 100
Domain1\usera \server300\Sharename3$
Domain1\usera \server400\Sharename_4$
Domain2\userb \server100\Sharename1 5 100
Domain2\userb \server200\Sharename_2 5 100
Domain2\userb \server300\Sharename3$
Domain2\userb \server400\Sharename_4$
Domain3\userc \server100\Sharename1 5 100
Domain3\userc \server200\Sharename_2 5 100
Domain3\userc \server300\Sharename3$ 5 100
Domain3\userc \server400\Sharename_4$ 5 100

On Oct 19, 12:56 am, funnybr...@gmail.com wrote:
> I have a hash of hashes.

This is not relevant.

> Some of the values that I put into hash keys have "special" characters
> in them (like "\" or "_"). When these values end up as keys in a hash,
> I get mixed results.
>
> Sometimes displaying the value of the key itself will chop off one of
> the special characters, but leave the rest.
>
> Also, I can display elements of the hash of hashes using:
>
> foreach $item ( keys %hashname )
>
> But if I plug the keys in from another source (such as from an array),
> I cannot display the elements when those keys I plugged in contain "$".

I can see no evidence of this in your example.

> I've also seen it happen when keys I plug in contain a "_", but I
> can't reproduce it in the example below.


> So bottom line question is: How do I work with hash keys when some of
> the values could possibly contain special characters???

No special action is required.

Your problem is that you are mistaking the behaviour of backslashes
within single quotes in Perl.

Try

my $foo = '\\';
print "[[[$foo]]]\n";

Then read up on "quote and quote like operators" in Perl.