You can populate your arrays like so: 
open (FILE1, $file1);
open (FILE2, $file2);
@filearray1=<FILE1>;
@filearray2=<FILE2>;

[download]
Then you'll want two arrays containing the first column values of each filearray: 
for(@filearray1){
  ($col1)=split;
  push@colarray1,$col1;
}
for(@filearray2){
  ($col1)=split;
  push@colarray2,$col1;
}

[download]
Then you can manipulate / compare these two arrays as you see fit.
Jason

In reply to Re: comparing files by insensate
in thread comparing files by Anonymous Monk

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