%aminoacids = ( 1 => 'Tyrosine', 2 => 'Glycine', 3 => 'Leucine', ); for($i = 1; $i<4; $i++) { for($j = 1; $j<4; $j++) { for($k = 1; $k<4; $k++) { # another test print command #print "$i $j $k\n"; # want to print out for example tyrosine tyrosine leucine if $i = 1, $j = 1 and $k = 3 } } }