How can match the first value of @ARGV to an array of possible options
my $primary_mode = $ARGV[0];
primary_mode_check($primary_mode);

sub primary_mode_check {
    my @program_modes = ('create', 'destroy');
    my $selected_mode = shift;
    foreach my $mode (@program_modes) {
        if ($selected_mode ne $mode) {
            die RED "'$selected_mode' is not a valid program mode!n";
        }
    }
}

my @program_modes = qw( create destroy );
sub primary_mode_check {
    my ($selected_mode) = @_;
    for my $mode (@program_modes) {
        return if $selected_mode eq $mode;
    }

    die "'$selected_mode' is not a valid program mode!n";
}

my %program_modes = map { $_ => 1 } qw( create destroy );
sub primary_mode_check {
    my ($selected_mode) = @_;
    die "'$selected_mode' is not a valid program mode!n"
       if !$program_modes{$selected_mode};
}

my $primary_mode = $ARGV[0] or die "No mode provided";
primary_mode_check($primary_mode);

sub primary_mode_check {
    my $selected_mode = shift;
    my @program_modes = ('create', 'destroy');
    die "'$selected_mode' is not a valid program mode!n"
        unless grep { $selected_mode eq $_ } @program_modes;
}

use v5.10;
my $primary_mode = $ARGV[0] or die "No mode provided";
my @program_modes = qw(create destroy);
die "'$selected_mode' is not a valid program mode!n"
    unless $primary_mode ~~ @program_modes;

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use warnings; use strict;

my ($primary_mode) = @ARGV;
my $allowed_modes = [qw(create destroy)];

check_primary_mode($primary_mode, $allowed_modes)
    or die sprintf "%s is not a valid program moden", $primary_mode;

sub check_primary_mode {
    my ($mode, $allowed) = @_;
    return grep $mode eq $_, @$allowed;
}

use List::MoreUtils qw( first_index );

...

sub check_primary_mode {
    my ($mode, $allowed) = @_;
    return (0 <= first_index { $mode eq $_ } @$allowed);
}

my $primary_mode = $ARGV[0];
primary_mode_check($primary_mode);

sub primary_mode_check {
    my %program_modes; @program_modes{qw(create destroy)}=();
    my $selected_mode = shift;
       die RED "'$selected_mode' is not a valid program mode!n"
    unless exists $program_modes{$selected_mode};
}

use strict;
use warnings;

my $cmd = shift @ARGV;
my @allowed = qw/ install uninstall check purge /;

die "Cannot understand command" unless ( grep { $cmd eq $_ } @allowed );

my @modes = ('create', 'destroy');
my $regexp = join "|", @modes;
if ($selected =~ /^(?:$regexp)z/) {
   print "Found program mode '$1'n";
} else {
   die RED "'$selected' is not a valid program mode!n";
}