my @a = qw(a b c d e f); my @b = qw(c d e f g h); my ($only_a, $only_b, $both, $either) = listy(\@a, \@b); print "only in a: @$only_a\n"; print "only in b: @$only_b\n"; print "both: @$both\n"; print "either: @$either\n"; sub listy { my %tmp1; for (0..1) { for my $k (@{$_[$_]}) { $tmp1{$k} .= $_; } } my %tmp2; while (my($k, $v) = each %tmp1) { push @{$tmp2{$v}}, $k; } return @tmp2{"0", "1", "01"}, [keys %tmp1]; }