in reply to use constant for strings

UPDATE: i should have checked before i posted ... just do what merlyn said. :)

Nope, that's not how constants work. Actually, a constant is really a Perl sub that returns the 'constant' value. Try using another hash: 

use constant WISCONSIN => "WI";
use constant ILLINOIS => "IL";

my %abbrev_map = (
   WI => 'WISCONSIN',
   IL => 'ILLINOIS',
);

my %capitol_map = (
    WISCONSIN => "Madison",
    ILLINOIS  => "Springfield",
);

my $abbrev = "WI";
if ( exists $abbrev_map{$abbrev} ) {
    print "capitol = $capitol_map{$abbrev_map{$abbrev}}\n";
}

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Alternatively ... i have a strong suspicion that a CPAN module might exist that contains states and their capitols.

UPDATE 2:
Well, can't seem to find one. The closest matches are:

which contain American states and their abbreviations, but no capitols .... hmmmm .... sounds like a new CPAN module is in the works.

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom