lookup table in perl??

hi,

i am very much new in perl and have this very basic question in the same:(

the requirement is as below:

i have an input file (txt file) in which i have fields invoice number and customer number. Now i have to take input this combination of invoice n customer number and check in a lookup file (pipe delimited txt file) and if the combination exists, then i have to get the new invoice number (present in lookup table) and append this new invoice number into the original record of the input file.

for example:

input file record: aaabbbinvoicenum1customernum1333

lookup record:11111invoicenum1customernum18888newinvoicenum1

so now original input record becomes:

aaabbbinvoicenum1customernum1333newinvoicenum1

i have to use hash array here in perl with keys as invoice and customer number combination, but me not sure how to use it:(..

please help me out in solving this...

regards,
Bhups

For a Perl hash %hash, to set value $v with key $k, you can do so by

$hash{$k} = $v;

You can use exists($hash{$k2}) to test if %hash contains the key $k2. If exists, $hash{$k2} will return the value previously set; undef otherwise.

hi moderators...can any body elaborate on the reply/solution???