#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my $data = [ [3328B0Z], [3328B0Z], [887ww45], [887ww45], [9988A676], [8888Q88], [11111X9], [88999S77], [88999S77], [777777f], [A84YY9], [K7788880], [K7788880], [1122222], [8888888T], [8888888T], [87HHY86], [XX11672], [XX11672], [88889999], [88888888], [1122222], ]; my @unique; foreach my $var ( @$data ){ if ( ! grep( /$var/, @unique ) ){ push( @unique, $var ); } } print Dumper \@unique;