sub test2 { my ($var2) = shift; # Perl can implement the if/else idea very code efficiently. return ("One") if ($var2 =~ /^1\./ ); return ("Two") if ($var2 =~ /^2\./ ); return ("Three") if ($var2 =~ /^3\./ ); return ("UNKOWN"); } print test2 ("1.00.000"), "\n"; print test2 ("11.00.000"), "\n"; print test2 ("3.abc"), "\n"; __END__ prints: One UNKOWN Three