#! /usr/bin/perl -w use strict; use constant FOO => 'foo bgcolor'; use constant BAR => 'bar bgcolor'; sub keyname { return shift() % 2 ? FOO : BAR } # to simplify my( %g, %h ); $g{ keyname(20) } = 6; $g{ keyname(21) } = 12; $h{ FOO } = 18; $h{ BAR } = 24; print "g: $_ is $g{$_}\n" for keys %g; print "h: $_ is $h{$_}\n" for keys %h; #### g: foo bgcolor is 12 g: bar bgcolor is 6 h: BAR is 24 h: FOO is 18