my $woord1; my $woord2; my $q = $@array-2; while ( $q >= 0 ) { if ($array[$q] =~ /^(\w+|\_)(\s)(\d{4})/) { $woord1 = $1; $x = $q+1; while ($x < $@array) { if ($array[$x] =~ /^(\w+|\_)(\s)(\d{4})/) { $woord2 = $1; if ($woord1 eq $woord2) { print "$woord1($q)\t$woord2($x)\n are the same"; delete $array[$x]; last; } } else { $x++; } } } $q--; }