@checks = (1, 3, 5); #just inserting some values my $cnt = 0; foreach (@checks) { $cnt++; } if ($cnt == 1) { fields => { 'field1' => 'value', 'field2' => 'value', 'checkfield' => '1' } } elsif ($cnt == 2) { fields => { 'field1' => 'value', 'field2' => 'value', 'checkfield' => '1', 'checkfield' => '3' } } elsif ($cnt == 3) { fields => { 'field1' => 'value', 'field2' => 'value', 'checkfield' => '1', 'checkfield' => '3', 'checkfield' => '5' } }