my $a = { bill => { '5/27/96' => { 'a.dat' => 1, 'b.txt' => 2, 'c.lsp' => 3 } \ }, jimm => { '6/22/98' => { 'x.prl' => 9, 'y.pyt' => 8, 'z.tcl' => 7 } \ } } ; my @a = Data::Hash::Flatten->this($a, [qw(name date file)]); use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(\@a); $VAR1 = [ { 'hits' => 7, 'date' => '6/22/98', 'name' => 'jimm', 'file' => 'z.tcl' }, { 'hits' => 8, 'date' => '6/22/98', 'name' => 'jimm', 'file' => 'y.pyt' }, { 'hits' => 9, 'date' => '6/22/98', 'name' => 'jimm', 'file' => 'x.prl' }, { 'hits' => 3, 'date' => '5/27/96', 'name' => 'bill', 'file' => 'c.lsp' }, { 'hits' => 2, 'date' => '5/27/96', 'name' => 'bill', 'file' => 'b.txt' }, { 'hits' => 1, 'date' => '5/27/96', 'name' => 'bill', 'file' => 'a.dat' }