This leaves @current with a different array order than @wake has. split /:/ leaves $wake[0] with the hour, and $wake[1] with the minute. localtime[1..2] would return the minute then the hour. to do the comparison, i'd have to invert one array.

thank you for the hashes link. i'm glad i didn't find it before posting this question. it makes this question look way too easy. as you can see, i've got one solution that works, "@array1" eq "@array2", but it still seems like there'd be a simpler (rather, more intuitive) way. But perhaps my intuition is just not on yet, with Perl.