Hmmm, nevermind.

Actually, I agree with your LoL remark. Returning a flat list seems too low level. Plus, if for any reason a new field needs to be added, so the number is no longer 5, it would break all code using it.

Modified, the code could look like:

    my $diff= easy( \@a, \@b );
    foreach ( @$diff ) {
        my( $same, $aMin, $aMax, $bMin, $bMax )= @$_;
        ...  # rest of code snipped because unaltered
    }
[download]

or

    my $diff= easy( \@a, \@b );
    while (my $row = shift @$diff ) {
        my( $same, $aMin, $aMax, $bMin, $bMax )= @$row;
        ...  # rest of code snipped because unaltered
    }
[download]

Never mind the extra overhead (if any)... No?