while() { chomp; ($class, $seqid) = split(/\s+/, $_); #$Class2seqs{$class} is a pointer to an array push(@{ $Class2seqs{$class} }, $seqid); } for $classnm ( keys %Class2seqs ) { print "--- list of seqs in $classnm --- \n"; print "@{ $Class2seqs{$classnm}} \n"; }