my @emps=map "employee_$_",1..5; my @codes='v'..'z'; my $n=3; for my $j (0..$n-1) { for my $i (0..$#emps) { print $emps[$i],":",$codes[($i+$j) % @codes],"\n"; } print "\n"; } __END__ employee_1:v employee_2:w employee_3:x employee_4:y employee_5:z employee_1:w employee_2:x employee_3:y employee_4:z employee_5:v employee_1:x employee_2:y employee_3:z employee_4:v employee_5:w