in reply to using if-elsif-else

chomp (my $name = <STDIN>); if ($name =~ /^derrick\b/i) { print $phnums{"derrick"}; } elsif ($name =~ /^juan\b/i) { print $phnums{"juan"}; } elsif ($name =~ /^kevin\b/i) { print $phnums{"kevin"}; }
Also you sould Read The Frienly Manuals more often :) Update:
chomp(my $name = <STDIN>); $name =~ /^$_/ and print ($phnums{$_}.chr 10) for keys %phnums