Y:\tmp>perl -MO=Deparse,-p 470538.pl (my(%hash) = ('A', 'on', 'B', 'on', 'C', 'off', 'D', 'off', 'E', 'off')); foreach $_ (keys(%hash)) { my($result); (((exists($hash{$_}) && ($hash{$_} eq 'on')) ? ($result = 'OK') : $result) = 'KO'); print($result, "\n"); } 470538.pl syntax OK #### (exists $hash{$_} and $hash{$_} eq 'on') ? ($result = 'OK') : ($result = 'KO');