I try to avoid using non core modules as much as possible as they would make my programs less portable (most Linux distros offer only a limited selection of packaged Perl modules and using cpan is not an option if I want to package my program for a Linux distro).

So to reformulate my question: Is there a more elegant solution similar to the smartmatch example and without using non-core modules?


Quoting from the link you kindly provided with regards to deprecation of smartmatch:

" its behavior is noticed for being unnecessarily complex and unintuitive"

It looks like the "dumbing down everything" disease has sadly reached Perl too... :-(