You have the sense of it, though I'd change:

    'Major task to perform?' => ['task_1','task_2','task_2'],
[download]

to something like

    'Major task to perform?' =>
       {
         answers => [ 'Add',   'Delete', 'Rename' ],
         keys    => [ 'task_1','task_2', 'task_2' ],
       },
[download]

This way if the user enters 'Add'. the next hash key you'd use is 'task_1'. (Make certain to programmatically test that there are as many keys as there are answers.)

This handles compressing all of the prompts you were talking about. The next problem is: what happens when you get to the end of the user input? You always need to keep track of the last key you used, and you need some way to indicate that you're at a terminal node. (Perhaps a blank key could indicate this.)

Your example would then become:

my $current_key = 'Major task to perform?';
while ( my $choice = prompt( $current_key, ...)) {
    # set INDEX to offset of $choice in $structure{ $current_key }{ans
+wers}
    # if $structure{$current_key}{keys}[INDEX] is empty
    #        break out of loop; you;'re in a terminal state
    # else $current_key = $structure{$current_key}{keys}[INDEX]
}
<p>A lot of the code is left as an exercise to the reader. Good luck w
+ith your class.
[download]

---

---

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

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, 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, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

Outside of code tags, you may need to use entities for some characters:

	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.