sub create_index {
   my %args = @_;
  
   # retrieve/use subroutine parameters from the
   # %args hash!

   . . .
}

. . .

my $index = create_index(
                         dbh => $dbh,
                         index_name => 'search_index',
                         frontend => 'string',
                         backend => 'phrase'
                         scoring => 1
                         );