Thanks to everyone for all the responses. Set::CrossProduct does indeed do exactly what I wanted, except that the real problem I'm working with wasn't using straight arrays, and it seemed complicated to get Set::CrossProduct to do what I wanted with the inputs I have.

So, in case you're interested, here's the solution I came up with in the end. I've just included one element of the DATA hash at the end; there are lots like that. Any comments or suggestions you have would be welcomed. 

local $\ = "\n";
local $/ = '';

open CODES, "> $code_file" or die "Couldn't open codefile: $!\n";

my $csv = Text::CSV->new;
$csv->combine('code', 'desc');
print CODES $csv->string;

my %hash = eval <DATA>;

my @full_code_list = ();
foreach my $key (keys %hash) {
    print "Looking at code [$key]...\n";
    my @list = gen_codes($hash{$key});
    push @full_code_list, @list if @list;
}

foreach my $aref (@full_code_list) {
    my ($code, $desc) = @$aref;
    $csv->combine($code, $desc);
    print CODES $csv->string;
}

sub gen_codes { 
    my $href = shift; 
    my $source = $href->{'source'};
    my $base_desc = $href->{'desc'};
    my @codes = ();
    my @element_hashes = @$href{@{$href->{'elements'}}};
    my $code_str_sub = $href->{'code_str'};
    my $desc_str_sub = $href->{'desc_str'};
    my @code_args = ($source);
    my @desc_args = ($base_desc);

    sub getvalues {
        my ($elems, $codes, $c_sub, $d_sub, $code_args, $desc_args) = 
+@_;
        my ($element, @remaining_elems) = @$elems;
        for my $code (keys %$element) {
            my $desc = $element->{$code};
            my $c_args = [ @$code_args, $code ];
            my $d_args = [ @$desc_args, $desc ];
            if (@remaining_elems) {
                getvalues(\@remaining_elems, $codes, $c_sub, $d_sub, $
+c_args, $d_args);
            } else {
                push @$codes, [&$c_sub(@$c_args), &$d_sub(@$d_args)];
            }
        }
    }
    getvalues(\@element_hashes, \@codes, $code_str_sub, $desc_str_sub,
+ \@code_args, \@desc_args);
    return @codes;
}

__END__

my %hash = (
    'FI_SWP_PLAIN_VANILLA-SPREADS' => {
        source => 'FDER,SWAPSPRD',
        desc   => 'Swaps - Plain Vanilla Spreads',
        elements => [qw/term attr/],
        term => {
            '2Y'  => '2 Years',
            '3Y'  => '3 Years',
            '4Y'  => '4 Years',
            '5Y'  => '5 Years',
            '6Y'  => '6 Years',
            '7Y'  => '7 Years',
            '8Y'  => '8 Years',
            '9Y'  => '9 Years',
            '10Y' => '10 Years',
            '12Y' => '12 Years',
            '15Y' => '15 Years',
            '20Y' => '20 Years',
            '25Y' => '25 Years',
            '30Y' => '30 Years',
            '40Y' => '40 Years'
        },
        attr => {
            RT_MID      => 'Mid Rate',
            RT_BID      => 'Bid Rate',
            RT_OFF      => 'Offer Rate',
            AM_MOD_DUR  => 'Modified Duration',
            DT_VALUE    => 'Value Date',
            DT_MATURITY => 'Maturity Date'
        },
        code_str => sub { 
            my ($s,$t,$a) = @_;
            return "DB($s,$t,$a)";
        },
        desc_str => sub { 
            my ($d,$t,$a) = @_;
            return "$d: $t $a";
        }
    }
);

[download]

In reply to Re: generating combinations of elements of an arbitrary number of arrays by mickey
in thread generating combinations of elements of an arbitrary number of arrays by mickey

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.