Data files: ------------------------------- pinto.template: horse_power = 50 price = 10 corvette.template: horse_power = 200 price = 11000 ------------------------------- package Car; use strict; sub new { my $type = shift; $self->{misc} = undef; $self->{blah} = undef; bless $self, $type; } sub model { my $self = shift; if (@_) { $self->{model} = shift } } sub search { open files parse for data & return... init a HASHDB ? } ------main----- use Car; my $my_car = Car->new; $my_car->model("pinto"); $my_car->search("horse_power"); and later.... $my_car->model("corvette"); $my_car->search("horse_power");