I realize this does not answer your question, but I would like to suggest an improvement to the way in which you populate the @toppings array. The following code:

• Eliminates warnings of the type "Scalar value @topping[0] better written as $topping[0]" when you use warnings;
• Eliminates compiler errors of the type "Bareword "Cheese" not allowed while "strict subs" in use" when you use strict;
• Replaces N scalar variables with 1 hash. In your case, N=3; but N would grow as you add onions, mushrooms, etc. $cheese, $pepperoni and $sausage are replaced by %types.
• Reduces the number of lines of code by about 50% as N grows.

my %types;
for (@fields) {
    $types{Cheese}++     if /cheese/i;
    $types{Pepperoni}++  if /pepperoni/i;
    $types{Sausage}++    if /sausage/i;
}
my @toppings = sort keys %types;
[download]

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.