Array of Hashes

An array reference can hold hash references for small table-like data.

array_of_hashes.pl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $target = ;
my $rows_ref = [
    { name => "alpha", score => 3 },
    { name => "beta", score => 5 },
];
my $found = "no";
my $score = 0;

foreach my $row_ref (@{$rows_ref}) {
    if ($row_ref->{name} eq $target) {
        $found = "yes";
        $score = $row_ref->{score};
    }
}

print "target=$target\n";
print "found=$found\n";
print "score=$score\n";

use strict;
use warnings;

my $target = ;
my $rows_ref = [
    { name => "alpha", score => 3 },
    { name => "beta", score => 5 },
];
my $found = "no";
my $score = 0;

foreach my $row_ref (@{$rows_ref}) {
    if ($row_ref->{name} eq $target) {
        $found = "yes";
        $score = $row_ref->{score};
    }
}

print "target=$target\n";
print "found=$found\n";
print "score=$score\n";

use strict;
use warnings;

my $target = ;
my $rows_ref = [
    { name => "alpha", score => 3 },
    { name => "beta", score => 5 },
];
my $found = "no";
my $score = 0;

foreach my $row_ref (@{$rows_ref}) {
    if ($row_ref->{name} eq $target) {
        $found = "yes";
        $score = $row_ref->{score};
    }
}

print "target=$target\n";
print "found=$found\n";
print "score=$score\n";

row lookup A row lookup walks entries until it finds the row with the needed value.