for my $i (0 .. $#AoA){ my $aref = $AoA[$i]; print "array is: $AoA[$i]\n"; $arg1 = $AoA[$i] if $AoA[$i][0] == "160001"; $arg2 = $AoA[$i] if $AoA[$i][0] == "170001"; $arg3 = $AoA[$i] if $AoA[$i][0] == "670002"; }