I highly reccomend getting your hand on a copy of Mark Jason Dominus' "Higher Order Perl". While it may be overkill for the purpose of finding a solution to this particular problem, it will show several different ways to elegantly solve this problem that will not only work for now but work for any variations you'd like to add in the future. So, if you're serious about your Perl knowledge and loooking to grow therein, then definitely check it out. I believe the chapter you'll most be interested in is chapter 8 but you'll need to browse a few of the earlier chapters for background. Sorry about the fake meta-help...