FILE1 peter 1234 nick 1111 john 4567 mike 3333 george 2222 antony 5632 migel 1209 FILE2 john 7559 mike 3333 george 2222 peter 5643 nick 1111 julia 3456 #### peter WRONG 1234 nick OK 1111 john WRONG 4567 mike OK 3333 george OK 2222 antony WRONG 5632 migel WRONG 1209 #### open ONE, $FILE1; while () { chomp; if ($_=~/^(.*)\t(.*)/) { $hash1{$1} =$2; } } foreach $key(keys %hash1) { open TWO, $FILE2; while () { chomp; if ($_=~/^$key\t(.*)/) { if ($1 eq $hash1{$key}) { print $key."\t".'OK'."$hash1{$key}"."\n"; } else { print $key."\t".'WRONG'."\t".$hash1{$key}."\n"; } } } }