my $str="17:43:33:21:23:19:27:6"; #### %hash=(17=>43, 33=>21, 23=>19, 27=>6); #### scalar(grep/$hash{$key}/@ary)==$key; #### my $str="17:43:33:21:23:19:27:6"; my %hash=split/:/,$str; foreach my $k(keys %hash) { push (@ary, map{$hash{$k}}(1..$k)); } my $adId=$ary[int(rand(100))];