use Set::Bag; my @a = ( 1, 2, 3 ); my @b = ( 2, 3, 1 ); my @c = ( 1, 2, 4 ); print "(@a) and (@b) are equal sets.\n" if identical( \@a, \@b ); print "(@a) and (@c) are equal sets.\n" if identical( \@a, \@c ); print "(@b) and (@c) are equal sets.\n" if identical( \@b, \@c ); sub identical { my ( $left, $right ) = @_; return 0 if scalar @$left != scalar @$right; my $bag_a = Set::Bag->new; my $bag_b = Set::Bag->new; $bag_a->over_delete(1); $bag_b->over_delete(1); $bag_a->insert( $_ => 1 ) for @$left; $bag_b->insert( $_ => 1 ) for @$right; return 1 if $bag_a->difference($bag_b) eq '()' && $bag_b->difference($bag_a) eq '()'; return 0; }