Date::Calc is great for this sort of thing:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Date::Calc qw(Delta_Days);
my $curdiff = 1e10;
my $nextrow = 0;
my $array = [ { date => '2001-02-01', more => 1 },
{ date => '2001-03-31' },
{ date => '2001-04-15' }
];
my $today = '2001-03-28';
my ($nowy,$nowm,$nowd) = split(/-/,$today);
foreach (my $rownum = 0; $rownum < scalar(@{$array}); $rownum++) {
my ($nexty,$nextm,$nextd) = split(/\-/,${$array->[$rownum]}{'date'})
+;
my $delta = Delta_Days($nowy,$nowm,$nowd,$nexty,$nextm,$nextd);
next if $delta < 1;
if ($delta < $curdiff) {
$nextrow = $rownum;
$curdiff = $delta;
}
}
# for insert mark
$array->[$nextrow]->{'isnext'} = 1;
# for array ref
my $arrayref = $array->[$nextrow];
Of course, this could be optimized more fully, but it should be enough to get you started.