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function to hash

Return a data structure from a function

Processing one line of surfer data was pretty straightforward. But now you have
to work with all the lines of data in the file. Your program has to make the data
available quickly so that a request to display the details of a particular surfer can
be performed as soon as possible.
You already know enough to write a function that takes the surfer ID as a
parameter, searches the file one line at a time for a matching ID, and then returns
the found data to the caller:

Pass the surfer ID.

...
find_details(id)
find_ Search the file
... details() for the ID

Return all the

101;Johnny 'wave-boy' data for the ID.
Jones;USA;8.32;Fish;21

There are really only two choices for how you return data from this function. Pass
back the surfer’s data either:

As a string

or
As a hash

But which? Returning a string requires the calling code to further process the data to
extract the information it needs, which (although possible) gets messy, because the calling
code is then required to cut up the string using split(). This is something best left to
the function, because it hides the complexity of manipulating the data from the calling code.
Returning a hash allows the calling code to simply pick out the information it needs
without too much fuss and without any further processing.

Return a hash from the function to keep the calling code simple.

164 Chapter 5