Perl doesn't have a built-in switch construct. But there are many ways to accomplish it. The hashtable you mentioned is one of them. Here's another:

SWITCH: {
    ($condition)  && do { # stuff;
                          last SWITCH; };
    ($condition2) && do { # something else;
                          last SWITCH; };
    die "Neither condition was met.\n";
}
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This is discussed in perlsyn, I believe.