It is better to store your data in a hash of array (references) like this: 

use strict;
use warnings;

my %COL_CHECK = ( A => [ qw( NAME CITY STATE ) ],
          B => [ qw( NAME CITY STATE COUNTY ) ],
          C => [ qw( NAME AGE STATE COUNTY ) ],
          D => [ qw( NAME AGE CITY STATE COUNTY ) ],
          E => [ qw( NAME AGE DESIGNATION CITY STATE COUNTY ) ] );

for my $key (@{$COL_CHECK{$ARGV[0]}}) {
    print "$key\n";
}

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In reply to Re: Help on Hashes by hdb
in thread Help on Hashes by Anonymous Monk

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