my %file1_hosts = ( bobssite => { 'bobssite.autossl.net' => 1, 'www.bobssite.com' => 1, 'bobssite.dealer.net' => 1, }, billssite => { 'billssite.autossl.net' => 1, 'www.billssite.com' => 1, 'www.billsothersite.com' => 1, 'bobssite.dealer.net' => 1, }, ); #### sub compare_aliases { my ($host, $file1_aliases, $file2_aliases) = @_ my %aliases = map { $_ => 1 } keys(%$file1_aliases), keys(%$file2_aliases); for my $alias (keys(%aliases)) { if (!$file1_aliases->{$alias}) { ... } elsif (!$file2_aliases->{$alias}) { ... } } } sub compare_hosts { my ($file1_hosts, $file2_hosts) = @_ my %hosts = map { $_ => 1 } keys(%$file1_hosts), keys(%$file2_hosts); for my $host (keys(%hosts)) { if (!$file1_hosts->{$host}) { ... } elsif (!$file2_hosts->{$host}) { ... } else { compare_aliases($host, $file1_hosts->{$host}, $file2_hosts->{$host}, ); } } } compare_hosts(\%file1_hosts, \%file2_hosts);