in reply to xtracting unique lines

I'd split the pairs by the " + " string, sort {$a cmp $b} the pair into a temporary array. Use as hash key a string joined by the " + " string made of that array... and the original string as the hash value. When done print out all the values.

To shorten it, make the split, sort and join in one go and you get rid of the temporary array.

Cheers, Sören