use strict; use warnings; my @array = (1,4,5,6,7,9,10,23,34,44,55,56,57,59,70,80,90,100); print "\nenter number\n"; chomp (my $find = ); my $nearest = @{nearest(\@array)}[0]; print "nearest to $find in array is: $nearest\n"; sub nearest { my ($a) = @_; my $size = @$a; return $a if $size == 1; my $mid = int(($size-1) / 2); my $test = @$a[$mid]; return $test <= $find ? (abs($test-$find)= @$a[$mid-1] ? [@$a[$mid-1]] : nearest([@$a[0 .. $mid]])); }