How to add an item to a Perl hash

Perl hash FAQ: How do I add an item/element to a Perl hash?

Answer: Adding an item to a Perl hash is just like creating a Perl hash initially. Just assign the new item to the hash with the correct syntax, and you're in business.

In the following sample code I show how this is done by creating a hash named prices. The hash key is the name of a product, like pizza, and the hash value is the price of that product. Here's my Perl hash sample code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

#
# add items to the "prices" hash
#
$prices{"pizza"} = 12.00;
$prices{"coke"} = 1.25;
$prices{"sandwich"} = 3.00;

#
# print the hash data
#
foreach $food_item (keys %prices)
{
  print "$food_item costs $prices{$food_item}\n";
}

As you can see, in the first part of the code I create the prices hash using the Perl hash syntax, like these lines of code:

$prices{"pizza"} = 12.00;
$prices{"coke"} = 1.25;
$prices{"sandwich"} = 3.00;

Then in the second part of my example code I print the items that are stored in the hash using the keys and foreach operators. As a result, the print statement inside the foreach loop prints the following output:

sandwich costs 3
pizza costs 12
coke costs 1.25

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