$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' sub cycle { state %i; no warnings "uninitialized"; $_[0]->[($i{$_[0]} % @{$_[0]}, ++$i{$_[0]})[0]]; } my $a2d = ["a" .. "d"]; my $e2h = ["e" .. "h"]; for (1..3) { print cycle($a2d) for 1..3; print cycle($e2h) for 1..3; } ' abcefgdabhefcdaghe #### $ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' { my %i; sub cycle { no warnings "uninitialized"; $_[0]->[($i{$_[0]} % @{$_[0]}, ++$i{$_[0]})[0]]; } } my $a2d = ["a" .. "d"]; my $e2h = ["e" .. "h"]; for (1..3) { print cycle($a2d) for 1..3; print cycle($e2h) for 1..3; } ' abcefgdabhefcdaghe #### $ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' sub cycle { state $i = -1; $_[0]->[++$i, $i %= @{$_[0]}]; } my $stuff = ["a" .. "d"]; print cycle($stuff) for 1..30; ' abcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdabcdab