You could run through the keys and do a pattern match on each one, like: 

my %cat = ('something' => 'stuff',);
my $variable = 'something';
my $match;
while (my ($key, $value) = each %cat) {
  if ($variable =~ /$key/) {
    $match = $value and last;
  }
}

[download]

Unfortunately this really nullifies the primary usefullness of a hash, e.g., efficient and straightforward dictionary lookup. What would be a better solution, if you can change the manner in which you store your data, is to use Tie::Hash::Regex, which enables you to use a regular expression to do key lookups. Very spiffy IMO, and written by a couple of local monks too.

Update: fixed two typos in the code snippet.

In reply to Re: hash key regular expression pattern by djantzen
in thread hash key regular expression pattern by wsee

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