sub insert { my $trie=shift; my $str=shift; $trie=$trie->{$_}||={} foreach (split //,$str); } sub common { my $trie=shift; my $common=""; while (1==scalar keys %$trie) { my $char=(keys %$trie)[0]; $common.=$char; $trie=$trie->{$char}; } $common; } my %trie; insert(\%trie,$_) foreach qw(model4run1 model2run1 model4run2 model1run1); print common(\%trie);