#!/usr/bin/env perl -l use strict; use warnings; my @initial = qw{q w e r t y q w e r t y}; print "Initial: @initial"; my $last = ''; my @unique = map { $last eq $_ ? () : ($last = $_) } sort @initial; print "Unique: @unique"; #### Initial: q w e r t y q w e r t y Unique: e q r t w y #### #!/usr/bin/env perl -l use strict; use warnings; my $last = ''; my @unique = map { $last eq $_ ? () : ($last = $_) } sort map { split } ; print "Unique: @unique"; __DATA__ I am supposed to create a unique array I am not supposed to use hashes #### Unique: I a am array create hashes not supposed to unique use