use v5.10; use strict; no warnings; sub two () { 2 } sub three { 3 } sub english_number { my $number = shift; given ($number) { when ( 1 ) { return 'one' } when ( two ) { return 'two' } when ( three ) { return 'three' } when ( 4 ) { return 'four' } default { return 'more' } } } say english_number($_) for 1..5;