The SCRIPT BELOW works, when listing and comparing each array. 
 
#list
  $array_lenth = @array = ("perl.a", "perl.b", "perl.c");
  $array_lenth = $array_lenth -1;
  for ($i = 0; $i <=$array_lenth; $i++) {
        $element = $array[$i];

        print "--value of $i element = $element \n";

#values to match
  @TheArray  = qw(perl.a perl.b perl.c);

   if (grep {$_ eq $element} @TheArray) {
     print qq(<td>Found '$element' element!</td>\n);
     $element =[$_];
   }
   else {
     print "NOT FOUND '$element' element!\n" ;
     $element =[$_];
   };

  }

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HOWEVER, if the @array and @TheArray were substituted with the values of 
 
    $dummy_a          = $input{'dummy_a'};

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which is now 
 
    $dummy_a          = "perl.a perl.b perl.c perl.d perl.e";

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THEN, set as 
    @array = $dummy_a; or @TheArray = $dummy_a;

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THE list in $dummy_a is recognized as a value from one element only...Therefore I cannot count and compare the list. Why is that. c_lhee@yahoo.com

In reply to Comparing and Counting Arrays Length by c_lhee

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