my $file_A = read_file( "file_A" ); my $file_B = read_file( "file_B" ); foreach (keys %$file_A) { delete $file_A->{ $_ } unless exists( $file_B->{ $_ } ); } sub read_file { my $file = shift; open FILE, $file or die "Can't open '$file' for reading $!"; my @file = ; close FILE; my $hoa = {}; foreach ( @file ) { my (@fields) = split /:/; my $key = $fields[0]; $hoa->{ $key } = [ @fields ]; } return $hoa; }