I'm new to perl and trying to optimize my very simplistic code. I think that using if..elsif conditionals is probably not the best method to test for multiple conditions. If I understand correctly, each condition will be tested every time no matter what the results. I'm looking for a method to execute a block of code based on a set condition. In BASIC (please forgive this reference) there was the on..goto conditional. In dbase coding, there was the do..case statement. Can anyone recommend a similar code concept for PERL please? Thanks in advance from a perl newbie.

UPDATE:
Wow! What a great community, and so FAST! Thanks for fast and relevant response. I think I'll research the hash table method (Thanks Dave). Just for more info, I've set myself a learning project to develop a perl sniffer. The project will be tracked at iptraffic if anyone is interested.

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