$ques = "how do i make an array spin around?"; $element = 4; print delete_element($element, $ques), "\n"; sub delete_element { my ($element, $question) = @_; if($question =~ /array.*\?$/i) { @elements = split(' ', $question); $elements[$element] = ''; return join(' ', @elements); } else { print "That is not an array question!\n"; return $question; } } output: how do i make array spin around?