trying to convert characters into numbers based on a table

[Cohan, Drew]

I've created a simple perl script to read in words and translate them into
numbers based on the phone keypad.  Right now I'm using the following
method:

while(<>){
        s/[abc]/2/gi;
        # inbetweens (3-8) left out for simplicity sake
        s/[wxy]/9/gi;
}

can anyone please suggest a better way?  this feels bulky.

Thanks,

-- Drew Cohan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]