#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w use strict; sub test1 { print 'test1'; } sub test2 { print 'test2'; } for my $i (1,2) { my $name = "test$i"; if (exists $handler{$name}) { $handler{$name}->(); } else { warn "Don't know what to do with '$name'"; }; }; my %handler = ( test1 => \&test1, test2 => \&test2, );