my @weighteddiv = (('1234') x 7, ('9876') x 42, ('1123') x 13); my %selected; my $maxclients = 2; until (keys %selected == $maxclients or @weighteddiv == 0) { my $i = rand(+@weighteddiv); # Not $# my $pluck = splice @weighteddiv, $i, 1; ++$selected{$pluck}; } my @selected = keys %selected; print "Selected: @selected\n";