Hash value is not re-initialized when loop is terminated with 'last' keyword

Question

Consider the following nested loops:

my %deleted_documents_names = map { $_ => 1 }
                $self->{MANUAL}->get_deleted_documents();

while($sth->fetch){
  .....
  .....
  .....
  while(my ($key, $value) = each(%deleted_documents_names)){
        {
         if($document_name eq $key){
              $del_status=1;
              last;
         }
        }
  if($del_status==1){next;} 
  .....
  .....
  .....
  .....
}

Now, I take a sample case where three values (A,B,C) will be compared against two values (B,C).

First scan:
A compared to B
A compared to C

Second scan:
B compared to B 
Loop is terminated.

Third scan:
C is compared with C.

In this case, C should be compared first with B, being first value, but this comparison is skipped, and it only scans from the next element after the one that was found equal. If I remove last termination condition and let the loop run for total number of scans, then it works all fine, but I need to find out why in this case, $key refers to the next compared value and not to the first value once loop is restarted after getting terminated with last keyword.

Any help will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Use

keys %deleted_documents_names ; # Reset the "each" iterator.

See keys.

But, why are you iterating over the hash? Why don't you just

if (exists $deleted_documents_names{$document_name}) {