my $subst; for my $hour (5, 12) { $hour > 10 ? $subst = 0 : $subst = 86400; print $subst, "\n"; } for my $hour (5, 12) { $subst = $hour > 10 ? 0 : 86400; print $subst, "\n"; } ## output 86400 86400 86400 0