Using @names as before... 
my %names_h = map { $_->[0] => 1 } @names;
#             map { @$_ } @names; # similar, but more scary

my $name = 'Jim';

print "Jim's in the hash\n"
  if $names_h{$name};

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Unless I state otherwise, my code all runs with strict and warnings

In reply to Re^3: check if an element exists in array by FunkyMonk
in thread check if an element exists in array by Anonymous Monk

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