for ($variable_to_test) {   
    if    (/pat1/)  { }     # do something 
    elsif (/pat2/)  { }     # do something else
    elsif (/pat3/)  { }     # do something else
    else            { }     # default
}

##</code><code>##

SWITCH: for (ref $whatchamacallit) {
    
    /^$/            && die "not a reference";
    
    /SCALAR/        && do { 
                            print_scalar($$ref);
                            last SWITCH;
                    };
    
    /ARRAY/         && do { 
                            print_array(@$ref);
                            last SWITCH;
                    };
    
    /HASH/          && do { 
                            print_hash(%$ref);
                            last SWITCH;
                    };
    
    /CODE/          && do { 
                            warn "can't print function ref";
                            last SWITCH;
                    };
    
    # DEFAULT
    
    warn "User defined type skipped";

}

##</code><code>##

chomp($answer = <>);
if    ("SEND"  =~ /^\Q$answer/i) { print "Action is send\n"  }
elsif ("STOP"  =~ /^\Q$answer/i) { print "Action is stop\n"  }
elsif ("ABORT" =~ /^\Q$answer/i) { print "Action is abort\n" }
elsif ("LIST"  =~ /^\Q$answer/i) { print "Action is list\n"  }
elsif ("EDIT"  =~ /^\Q$answer/i) { print "Action is edit\n"  }

##</code><code>##

my %commands = (
    "happy" => \&joy,
    "sad",  => \&sullen,
    "done"  => sub { die "See ya!" },
    "mad"   => \&angry,
);

print "How are you? ";
chomp($string = <STDIN>);
if ($commands{$string}) {
    $commands{$string}->();
} else {
    print "No such command: $string\n";
}