sub total {
  my ($N_NUM) = @_;

  # expression is obviously pseudo-code
  if ($N_NUM is in database) {
    return 'FOUND';
  }

  return 'NOT FOUND';
}

my %dblist;
$dblist{"$N_NUM"} = total($N_NUM);

foreach my $item (sort keys %dblist) {
  # print table row
  print $item;
  print $dblist{"$item"};
}