my %results; @goodstuff = (1,2,3,4,5); @badstuff = (1,3); for (@goodstuff) { $results{$_}++ } for (@badstuff} { $results{$_}++ } for (keys %results) { if ($results{$_} == 1) { print "Value: " . $_ . " was found in only one array\n"; } }