Hi linseyr, this is a script I came up with on the fly I hope it is self explanitory. The only messy part is using a huge literal because I was'nt smart enough to figure out something else.. or I was too lazy? But anyway I use file handles instead of references to them, gather the data in arrays first and then do my comparing using a variable $lesser_value to keep track of if I have the least possible value for the chrx. Best wishes, and feel free to ask any questions! hope this helps. -Rudolf 

use v5.14;

open(TEST,'<',"test.txt") or die $!;
my @test_data = <TEST>;
close(TEST);

open(REFERENCE,'<',"reference.txt") or die $!;
my @reference_data = <REFERENCE>;
close(REFERENCE);

my @results;

for my $line(@test_data){
   my $lesser_val = 9999999999999999;

   my($chr,$val) = split(/    /,$line);
   
   for my $ref_line(@reference_data){
      my($ref_chr,$ref_val) = split(/    /,$ref_line);

      if($ref_chr eq $chr){
         $lesser_val = ($ref_val-$val) if ($ref_val-$val < $lesser_val
+);
      }      
   }
   push(@results,"$chr    $lesser_val");  
}

say foreach @results;

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In reply to Re: compare text files by Rudolf
in thread compare text files by linseyr

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