use strict; use warnings; my @arrays = ( [ qw( A 1 2 3 4 5 ) ], [ qw( B 1 2 5 6 ) ], [ qw( C 2 3 ) ], ); my %actors_by_role; foreach my $array (@arrays) { my ($actor, @roles) = @$array; foreach my $role (@roles) { push @{$actors_by_role{$role}}, $actor; } } my @roles = sort keys %actors_by_role; foreach my $role (@roles) { print(join("\t", $role => sort @{$actors_by_role{$role}}), "\n"); }