my @choices = qw/Apple Banana Tiger Lion Cat Turtle/; my @Single = qw/Apple Turtle/; my @Double = qw/Lion/; my %flags = ( map { $_ => 1 } @Single ), ( map { $_ => 2 } @Double ); for my $choice (@choices) { my $flag = $flags{$choice} || 0; print "$choice => $flag\n"; }