my @array = qw( a b c d x );
my $sought = 'a';
$" = '|-nothing we expect-|';
print "Found!" if index($" . "@array" . $", $" . $sought . $") > -1;

##</code><code>##

my @array = qw( a b c d x );
my $sought = 'a';
print "Found!" if grep $_ eq $sought, @array;