well you spoke specifically about is_deeply

> > > You won't need is_deeply

I think my demo of a workaround shows what I wanted, since all tests are returning a boolean result.

I only mention is_deeply in this sentence:

You won't need is_deeply since you don't need to check all elements.

In what way is "You won't need is_deeply" specifically about is_deeply? The approach of testing for a specific known difference in your prepared data is a general approach that works for your cases, or at least you haven't shown a counterexample.

The test data is generated, finding the difference manually isn't easy.

Furthermore, the idea of having Boolean logic for tests is straightforward and makes the code elegant and readable.

Most importantly it's generic, I can't tell which other test besides is_deeply doesn't provide a negation.

And I learned a lot about the test suite, especially Test::Builder in the course of this thread, just by asking this "silly question".

Cheers Rolf
_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
Wikisyntax for the Monastery}