use strict; my @frau = qw /bl ge gr br sw rt/; my @mann = qw /ge bl bl br sw rt/; my $paar; my %fr = map { $_, 1 } @frau; my %ma = map { $_, 1 } @mann; for (keys %ma) { $paar++ if exists $fr{$_}; } print "Paare: $paar\n";