>perl -wMstrict -le "my @raw_files = qw{ 12.png 06.png 06.png 03.png 07.png 07.png }; my $blank_png = 'blank.png'; my @blanked_files = interleave_blanks($blank_png, @raw_files); print qq{@blanked_files}; sub interleave_blanks { my $blank_file = shift; my $prev_file = ''; map { my $repeat = $_ eq $prev_file; $prev_file = $_; $repeat ? ($blank_file, $_) : ($_); } @_ ; } " 12.png 06.png blank.png 06.png 03.png 07.png blank.png 07.png >perl -wMstrict -le "my @raw_files = qw{ 12.png 06.png 06.png 03.png 07.png 07.png }; my $blank_png = 'blank.png'; my @blanked_files = do { my $prev_file = ''; map { my $repeat = $_ eq $prev_file; $prev_file = $_; $repeat ? ($blank_png, $_) : ($_); } @raw_files ; }; print qq{@blanked_files}; " 12.png 06.png blank.png 06.png 03.png 07.png blank.png 07.png