#!perl -l my %weights=(a=>1,b=>2,c=>3); my $max=0; my @values=map { my $range=[ $max, $max+$weights{$_}, $_ ]; $max+=$weights{$_}; $range } keys %weights; foreach (1..100) { my $r=rand($max); $_->[0]<=$r and $r<$_->[1] and print $_->[-1] foreach @values; }