use Test::More 'tests' => 4; my $line; my %faclist; $line = "17\n"; $faclist{$line} = ""; $line = "23\n"; chomp $line; $faclist{$line} = ""; ok( ! exists $faclist{17}, 'number 17 does not exist' ); ok( ! exists $faclist{'17'}, 'string 17 does not exist' ); ok( exists $faclist{23}, 'number 23 exists' ); ok( exists $faclist{'23'}, 'string 23 exists' );