or use classic elsif chains

$\="\n";

for (qw/abc foo bar 42 unknown/) {
  if    (/^abc$/) {
    print 'abc';
  }
  elsif (/^(foo|bar)$/) {
    print "foo bar";
  }
  elsif ( $_ eq 42 ) {
    print "42";
  }
  else {
    print "default: $_";
  }
}
__END__
abc
foo bar
foo bar
42
default: unknown
[download]

if you don't like regex define a sub in to do the test

$\="\n";

sub in { $_ ~~ $_[0]  }


for (qw/abc foo bar 42 unknown/) {
  if    ( in ['abc']) {
    print 'abc';
  }
  elsif ( in [qw/foo bar/] ) {
    print "foo bar";
  }
  elsif ( in [42] ) {
    print "42";
  }
  else {
    print "default: $_";
  }
}

__END__
abc
foo bar
foo bar
42
default: unknown
[download]

since the smart match is abstracted away you have maximum freedom to change/fallback implementation of in to regex or even a memoized hash.