my %mungers = ( foo => sub { $_[0] =~ s/foo/bar/g }, fru => sub { $_[0] =~ s/(fru.*)/uc($1)/e }, ); if( $phase_of_moon > WAXING_GIBBOUS ) { $mungers{foo}->( $string ); # this line changed } else { $mungers{fru}->( $string ); # this line changed }