sub readFileIntoHash{
	my $inputFile = $_[0];
	print "using input file $inputFile\n" ;
	if (-e $inputFile){
		open (HASHFILE,$inputFile) || die "file $inputFile konnte nicht geoeffnet werden\n";
		my %exportHash = map { chomp; split /=/, $_, 2; } <HASHFILE>;
		close(HASHFILE);							
		return %exportHash;
	}
	else{
		print "file $inputFile does not exist, returning undef\n";	
		return undef;	
	}
}