my $any_data_goes_here = "bla blie bloe "; my @tablenums = ('1', '2', '3'); my (@johnData, @mikeData, @harryData); my %Tables = ( '1' => \@johnData, '2' => \@mikeData, '3' => \@harryData, ); foreach (@tablenums){ push (@{$Tables{$_}}, $any_data_goes_here); } print @johnData, @mikeData, @harryData;