my @a = (qw/a b c d e f/); my @b = (qw/a b d/); print comp( \@a, \@b ); sub comp { my ( $aref, $bref ) = @_; for ( 0 .. $#$bref ) { return if ( not exists( $aref->[$_] ) or $aref->[$_] ne $bref->[$_] ); } return 1; }