my @stuff = 0 .. 9; for my $ix ( 0 .. $#stuff ){ my $item = $stuff[$ix]; my $prev = $stuff[$ix-1]; my $next = $stuff[$ix+1]; } #### my @stuff = 0 .. 9; my $lastitem = ""; for my $item ( @stuff ){ my $next = $item; if( $item eq $lastitem ){ print "they measure up\n"; } $lastitem = $item; } #### my @stuff = 0 .. 9; my @lastitem ; for my $item ( @stuff ){ my $next = $item; if( @lastitem and $item eq $lastitem[-1] ){ print "they measure up\n"; } push @lastitem, $item; shift @lastitem while 3 == @lastitem; ### keep at most 3 last items }