sub get_group { my $user_id = shift; my @special_groups = get_special_group($user_id); # ex: 'cdrom', 'games' my @normal_groups = get_normal_group($user_id); # ex: 'westteam', 'marketing', 'committee' return \@special_groups, \@normal_groups; } my($specail, $normal) = get_group(1002); print $special->[-1]; # 'games' print $normal->[-1]; # 'committee'