> put all names into an temp array on the fly

I'd use a hash-slice (if order doesn't matter)

Debugger demo: 

  DB<3> p $a
olivia-niels-peter-lars-niels-lars-olivia-olivia
  DB<4> @hash{ split '-',$a } = ()

  DB<5> x keys %hash
0  'lars'
1  'niels'
2  'peter'
3  'olivia'
  DB<6> p join '-', keys %hash
lars-niels-peter-olivia
  DB<7>

[download]

Cheers Rolf
(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
see Wikisyntax for the Monastery

In reply to Re: How can I make a string unique (quicker than my approach at least) by LanX
in thread How can I make a string unique (quicker than my approach at least) by Anonymous Monk

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