SYNOPSIS

use Array::Utils qw(:all);

my @a = qw( a b c d );
my @b = qw( c d e f );
# symmetric difference
my @diff = array_diff(@a, @b);
# intersection
my @isect = intersect(@a, @b);

# unique union
my @unique = unique(@a, @b);

# check if arrays contain same members
if ( !array_diff(@a, @b) ) {
# do something
}

# get items from array @a that are not in array @b
my @minus = array_minus( @a, @b );

DESCRIPTION

A small pure-perl module containing list manipulation routines. The module emerged because I was tired to include same utility routines in numerous projects.

FUNCTIONS

"unique"

Returns an array of unique items in the arguments list.

"intersect"

Returns an intersection of two arrays passed as arguments, keeping the order of the second parameter. A nice side effect of this function can be exploited in situations as:

        @atreides = qw( Leto Paul Alia 'Leto II' );
        @mylist = qw( Alia Leto );
        @mylist = intersect( @mylist, @atreides );  # and @mylist is ordered as Leto,Alia

"array_diff"

Return symmetric difference of two arrays passed as arguments.

"array_minus"

Returns the difference of the passed arrays A and B (only those array elements that exist in A and do not exist in B). If an empty array is returned, A is subset of B.

Function was proposed by Laszlo Forro <[email protected]>.

AUTHOR

Sergei A. Fedorov <[email protected]>

I will be happy to have your feedback about the module.

COPYRIGHT

This module is Copyright (c) 2007 Sergei A. Fedorov. All rights reserved.

You may distribute under the terms of either the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License, as specified in the Perl README file.

WARRANTY

This is free software. IT COMES WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.