If you think that a question deserves a useless answer, then why bother answering?

I didn't think my answer was useless.

Furthermore we were given exact input and an exact desired result.

One way to get that result would be to ignore the input entirely and just hardcode the assignments. But it wasn't a question about achieving a result, it was about what techniques would be used, and I answered that question.

Your approach is your approach, and mine is mine. The wonderful thing about PerlMonks is that there are many different approaches, and no one approach of them will be ideal for every situation, but often enough, at least one of them will hit the nail on the head.

In this case, my approach was to give the OP a few key concepts about which he could educate himself to achieve the desired result. I'm sorry that it chafed you so much.