my @arr1 = (1,2,3,4,5); my @arr2 = (6,7,8,9,10); my @arr3 = (11,12,13,14,15); my @mainarr = (\@arr1, \@arr2, \@arr3); #### my @mainarr = ([1,2,3,4,5], [6,7,8,9,10], [11,12,13,14,15]); #### grep { $_ == $tofind } map { @$_ } @mainarray;