use strict;

my @report = qw(sqltable mike_test sarak_mike);
my @file   = (@report, qw(plus a little more));

# off by 0
print '@file was off by ' 
   . simple_compare(\@report,\@file)
   . " elements\n";

# still 0, that elem wasn't in @report
pop @file;
print '@file was off by ' 
   . simple_compare(\@report,\@file)
   . " elements\n";

# off by 1, that one was
shift @file;
print '@file was off by ' 
   . simple_compare(\@report,\@file)
   . " elements\n";  

# returns number of elements in A that aren't in B
sub simple_compare {
   my ($A,$B) = @_;

   # build lookup table
   my %seen = map { $_ => 1 } @$B;
   
   # find those in A that aren't in B
   my @aonly;
   foreach my $item (@$A) {
      push @aonly,$item unless ($seen{$item});
   }
   
   return scalar @aonly;
}  

##</code><code>##

my @report = qw(one one two);
my @file   = qw(one two two);