Hi rsiedl,

If I understand what you're trying to accomplish, I think you want something like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
                                                                      
+          
use strict;
use warnings;
                                                                      
+          
my @array1 = ( "test", "test2", "test2", "test3", "test4", "test4" );
my @array2 = ( "test", "test", "test2.1", "test4.1", "test4.2", "test4
+.3" );
                                                                      
+          
my @save;
                                                                      
+          
foreach my $item1 (@array1) {
    foreach my $item2 (@array2) {
        next unless defined $item2;
        if (match_names($item1, $item2)) {
            push (@save, $item1);
            $item2 = undef;
            last;
        }
    }
}
                                                                      
+         
printf "Results:  save = %s\n", join(',', @save);

sub match_names {
  # i have this part, its just a simple regex
  # something like:
  my ($x,$y) = @_;
  return 1 if ($y =~ /$x/);
  return 0;
}
[download]

Several points you should take note of:

1. You really should use strict and warnings.  They will help you catch so many errors and potential errors that you'd miss otherwise.

2. I converted array1 and array2 from array references to simple arrays.  If you do this assignment:

my @array1 = [ "A", "B", "C" ];
[download]

you end up with an array containing a single value, which itself is a reference to an array.  For example:

use strict;
use warnings;
                                                                      
+          
use Data::Dumper;
                                                                      
+          
my @array1 = [ "test", "test2", "test2", "test3", "test4", "test4" ];
printf "Contents of 'array1' => %s\n", Dumper(\@array1);
                                                                      
+          
my @array2 = ( "test", "test2", "test2", "test3", "test4", "test4" );
printf "Contents of 'array2' => %s\n", Dumper(\@array2);

# Output will be as follows ...
Contents of 'array1' => $VAR1 = [
          [
            'test',
            'test2',
            'test2',
            'test3',
            'test4',
            'test4'
          ]
        ];
 
Contents of 'array2' => $VAR1 = [
          'test',
          'test2',
          'test2',
          'test3',
          'test4',
          'test4'
        ];
[download]

3. Your logic in match_names was backwards; what you wanted (at least if one goes by your example output) was:

  return 1 if ($y =~ /$x/);      # Swapped $x and $y
[download]

4. In match_names, you should really explicitly return a zero if the regex test fails.  Also, you had a typo on the argument assignment (missing ')' when you assigned to "@_").

5. The code I presented works by deleting each found item from the second array so it won't be available as a "match" the next time.  If you need to preserve your array2, you should make a copy instead:

my @array2_copy = @array2;
foreach my $item1 (@array1) {
    foreach my $item2 (@array2_copy) {
        ...
    }
}
[download]

Is that the solution you were looking for?

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