Store your hashtable or array in a file a recover it without any processing

				
=**************************************
= Name: Store your hashtable or array in a file a recover it without any processing
= Description:This code is an example of use for the Data::Dumper module. It is available in all perl versions for any operating system.
= By: Bruno Martins
=
= Inputs:This piece of code reads a file named hash.txt (it does not need to exist) and prints it's content. after you are asked to enter a key/value pair and the code will store the hashtable in "hash.txt"
=
= Returns:When you run the code again it will show you the previous key/value pairs you entered
=
= Assumes:This code use of references, but you do not need to know anything about it, it is very clear and very easy to use.
=
=This code is copyrighted and has= limited warranties.Please see http://www.Planet-Source-Code.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=495&lngWId=6=for details.=**************************************

#!/usr/bin/perl
use Data::Dumper; # this module is used to store the hashtable in a way that can be recovered with the 'do' statement
# read the content of "hash.txt" to a variable (this variable will contain a reference to the hashtable)
$h= do "hash.txt";
# store the reference content into an hashtable
%hash=%{$h};
# prints the content of the hashtabele
print "previous inserted values:\n";
print "----------------------\n";
for (keys %hash)
{
	print "$_ => $hash{$_}\n";
}
	
print "----------------------\n";
# reads new key and value
print "new key:";
$key=<STDIN>;
chomp($key);
print "value for \'$key\':";
$value=<STDIN>;
chomp $value;
# stores the key and the value in the hashtable
$hash{$key}=$value;
# stores the hashtable in the file
open(A,">hash.txt");
print A Dumper \%hash; # don't forget to put the backslash before the hashtable, otherwise it won't work
close(A);
## DON'T FORGET TO VOTE