gistfile1.txt

array_cmp() { local a="$1[i]" b="$2[i]" na nb i ; eval na=\${!$1[@]} nb=\${!$2[@]} ; for i in $na $nb ; do [[ "${!a}" = "${!b}" ]] || return $? ; done ; } 

a=("foo")
b=("foo")
c=("foo", "bar")

array_cmp a b; echo $? $ should give 0!
array_cmp a a; echo $?
array_cmp b b; echo $?
array_cmp a c; echo $?
array_cmp b c; echo $?