Make a bit vector, each bit corresponding to a search term (bit 0 means 'male', bit 1 'female'). Convert your occurences into bit vectors as well and use those as keys in your tally ([ 'male', 'child'] would have bits 0 and 2 set (0b101)). Then turn the bit vector keys back into the original terms on the way out.

Update: I was going to expand on this but connectivity on the train was kinda spotty. At any rate, see perldoc -f vec and search for Set modules on CPAN (since that's basically what you're asking about).

In reply to Re: matching arrays by Fletch
in thread matching arrays by rsiedl

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