my @isec; my @b; (@b, @isec) = ArrayFunctions(\@ArrayA, \@ArrayB, \@b, \@isec); sub ArrayFunctions { my ($a_ref, $b_ref, $b, $isec) = @_; my @a = @$a_ref; my @b = @$b_ref; my %Aseen = map {$_ => undef} @a; my %Bseen = map {$_ => undef} @b; #.......... Other Code ..... }