use strict; use warnings; my %COL_CHECK = ( A => [ qw( NAME CITY STATE ) ], B => [ qw( NAME CITY STATE COUNTY ) ], C => [ qw( NAME AGE STATE COUNTY ) ], D => [ qw( NAME AGE CITY STATE COUNTY ) ], E => [ qw( NAME AGE DESIGNATION CITY STATE COUNTY ) ] ); for my $key (@{$COL_CHECK{$ARGV[0]}}) { print "$key\n"; }