You can accomplish something like what (I think) you're asking using a hash, so long as your array will not contain duplicates.

my %hash;
$hash{$_} = some_output($_) for @array;

 # Print each in arbitrary order  like so:
print $hash{$_} for keys %hash;

 # Print in original sequence by reusing the array:
print $hash{$_} for @array;

sub some_output {
  local $_; 
  # Insert mystery code here
}

[download]
Update: Fixed mundane detail.

In reply to Re: array and hash by djohnston
in thread array and hash by Anonymous Monk

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