use Algorithm::Loops 'NestedLoops'; sub find_path { my ($adj_list, $length) = @_; my %been_there; NestedLoops([ [sort {$a <=> $b} keys %$adj_list], (sub { # The last value on @_ has just changed, so remove it from %been_there # and set the new one my ($last_position, $last_value) = ($#_, $_[-1]); delete $been_there{$_} for grep $been_there{$_} >= $last_position, keys %been_there; $been_there{$last_value} = $last_position; # Here I grep out the already-visited nodes, but you could also exclude # any letters that don't result in prefixes of real words. [ grep !defined($been_there{$_}), @{$adj_list->{$last_value}} ] }) x ($length-1)] ); } my $i = find_path(\%adjacency_list, 3); my @path; print "@path\n" while @path = $i->();