#!/usr/bin/perl use Data::Dumper; my $AoH = [ { page => 'spring', chap => 'spring'}, { page => 'spring', chap => 'spring'}, { page => 'winter', chap => 'winter'}, { page => 'spring', chap => 'spring'}, { page => 'spring', chap => 'fall'}, ]; my %dupes; ++$dupes{ stringify( %$_ ) } for @$AoH;; print Dumper \%dupes; @$AoH = grep $dupes{ stringify( %$_ ) } == 1, @$AoH; print Dumper $AoH; sub stringify { my %hash = @_; # explicitly name keys if you want to compare on some #return join '', map { $_, $hash{$_} } ( qw/ page chap / ); # or use them all join '', map { $_, $hash{$_} } sort keys %hash; } __END__ $VAR1 = { 'chapspringpagespring' => 3, 'chapfallpagespring' => 1, 'chapwinterpagewinter' => 1 }; $VAR1 = [ { 'page' => 'winter', 'chap' => 'winter' }, { 'page' => 'spring', 'chap' => 'fall' } ];