I cant read from a Perl hash CGI

I have a cgi that i am writing. In it i read a file into a hash. Then I try to access a record in the hash like this
$newvariable = $hash{'key'};

what is strange is that when i do this on my computer just running a perl script it runs fine. When i do it on my web server as a cgi it just comes back undef.

I know the hash is full becuase i tried
print %hash;
and it printed the whole thing. Frankly I am stumped and getting angry. So save a fat kid from a heart atack and help me out, Thanks.