#!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; my @maybe = qw( abc bca cab cba bac acb aab abbc acc ); print "$_ ", ok($_) ? 'good' : 'no good', "\n" for @maybe; sub ok{ return y/a// > 1 ? 0 : y/b// > 1 ? 0 : y/c// > 1 ? 0 : 1; }