#! perl -slw use strict; use Data::Dump qw[ pp ]; my @array1 = [ {'platformid' => '22','da' => 'A.9','os' => 'hp-ux-11.31','host' => '2060','cc' => 'A.9','ma' => 'A.9','size' => [{'objecttype' => 'FILESYSTEM','totalsize' => '3628129 KB','application' => '/depot','hostname' => 'iwf1112060'}],'objecttype' => '2'}, {'platformid' => '100','da' => 'A.9','os' => 'microsoft amd64 wNT-6.1-S','ma' => 'A.9','cc' => 'A.9','size' => [{'objecttype' => 'OB2BAR','totalsize' => '230986 KB','application' => 'IDB','hostname' => '5096'},{'objecttype' => 'WINFS','totalsize' => '1262152 KB','application' => 'R: [New Volume]','hostname' => '5096'},{'objecttype' => 'WINFS','totalsize' => '574463 KB','application' => 'C:','hostname' => '5096'}],'objecttype' => '6','host' => '5096'} ]; my @array2 = [ {'platformid' => '100','da' => 'A.9','os' => 'microsoft amd64 wNT-6.1-S','ma' => 'A.9','cc' => 'A.9','size' => [{'objecttype' => 'OB2BAR','totalsize' => '230986 KB','application' => 'IDB','hostname' => '5096'},{'objecttype' => 'WINFS','totalsize' => '1262152 KB','application' => 'R: [New Volume]','hostname' => '5096'},{'objecttype' => 'WINFS','totalsize' => '574463 KB','application' => 'C:','hostname' => '5096'}],'objecttype' => '6','host' => '5096'}, {'platformid' => '22','da' => 'A.9','os' => 'hp-ux-11.31','host' => '2060','cc' => 'A.9','ma' => 'A.9','size' => [{'objecttype' => 'FILESYSTEM','totalsize' => '3628129 KB','application' => '/depot','hostname' => '2060'}],'objecttype' => '2'} ]; print 'The data structures are ', pp( \@array1 ) eq pp( \@array2 ) ? 'the same' : 'different'; __END__ C:\test>1174098.pl The data structures are different