use autodie; use warnings; use strict; my (@data1, @data2) = (); my ($fh, $l, $n); open $fh, "<", $ARGV[0]; while(<$fh>) { ($l, $n) = split; push @data1, [ $l, $n ]; } close($fh); open $fh, "<", $ARGV[1]; while(<$fh>) { ($l, $n) = split; push @data2, [ $l, $n ]; } close($fh); foreach my $row1 ( @data1 ) { foreach my $row2 ( @data2 ) { my ($l1, $n1, $l2, $n2) = (@$row1, @$row2); my $match = $l1 eq $l2; print "$l1 from FILE1 with number $n1 and $l2 from FILE2 with number $n2" . ($match ? '' : " DO NOT") . " match\n"; } } __END__ A from FILE1 with number 1_1 and A from FILE2 with number 2_1 match A from FILE1 with number 1_1 and B from FILE2 with number 2_2 DO NOT match A from FILE1 with number 1_2 and A from FILE2 with number 2_1 match A from FILE1 with number 1_2 and B from FILE2 with number 2_2 DO NOT match B from FILE1 with number 1_3 and A from FILE2 with number 2_1 DO NOT match B from FILE1 with number 1_3 and B from FILE2 with number 2_2 match C from FILE1 with number 1_4 and A from FILE2 with number 2_1 DO NOT match C from FILE1 with number 1_4 and B from FILE2 with number 2_2 DO NOT match