I don't have an answer for your question, because frankly that regex makes my head hurt :-0
What I suggest is making something a little more reusable by actually parsing the info istead of just grepping for what you need this particular time. I would do something like this... my $log_entry = q[Jul 25 10:39:12...]; # a single log entry my %data = (); # grab the date from the first section, # and remove the first section all-together $log_entry =~ s/^(.*?:.*?:\d+).*?:.*?:.*?:/Date $1,/; # split the line my the commas for (split /\s*,\s*/, $log_entry) { # grab the name/value pairs and save to a hash /^(\w+)\s*(.*)/ and $data{$1} = $2 and next; } # grab what you need from the hash print "DATE: $data{Date}\n"; print "PeerAddress: $data{PeerAddress}\n"; print "ConnectTime: $data{ConnectTime}\n"; print "DisconnectTime: $data{DisconnectTime}\n"; print "InfoType: $data{InfoType}\n"; # etc... << output for the specific log entry you gave >> DATE: Jul 25 10:39:12 PeerAddress: 0051122323223 ConnectTime: *10:47:09.753 GMT Thu Jul 25 2002 DisconnectTime: *10:47:09.753 GMT Thu Jul 25 2002 InfoType: 2 ....Anyway, just an thought, it might be easier and cleaner. Rob -----Original Message----- From: Hernan Marcelo Salvarezza [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 8:44 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: cisco regexp Hello all, i am parsing a cisco log and i can'nt find the exact regexp,following goes the log and the script.. Jul 25 10:39:12 10.0.0.1 852: 1d23h: %VOIPAAA-5-VOIP_CALL_HISTORY: CallLegType 2, ConnectionId 0 0 0 0, SetupTime *10:46:49.143 GMT Thu Jul 25 2002, PeerAddress 0051122323223, PeerSubAddress , DisconnectCause 0 , DisconnectText , ConnectTime *10:47:09.753 GMT Thu Jul 25 2002, DisconnectTime *10:47:09.753 GMT Thu Jul 25 2002, CallOrigin 1, ChargedUnits 0, InfoType 2, TransmitPackets 0, TransmitBytes 0, ReceivePackets 358, ReceiveBytes 7064 ........ my $dtgT = '\d|:|\.'; my $peer = 'PeerAddress'; my $upT = 'ConnectTime'; my $downT = 'DisconnectTime'; my $prefT = '"0051"'; <snip> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]