How's abouts this (pls excuse any syntax errs) ..... my $out1 = "$file1.txt"; my $out2 = "$file2.txt";
open(INPUT, $filename) or die "error: $filename cannot be opened\n"; open(OUT1, ">$out1") or die "error: $out1 cannot be opened for writing\n"; open(OUT2, ">$out2") or die "error: $out2 cannot be opened for writing\n"; my $regex_split_space='\s+'; my $regex_marker='^marker'; my $regex_header='^header'; while (<INPUT>) { # read file line by line next if m/$regex_header/; # skip if header line next if m/$regex_marker/; # skip if marker line if (/^.*?\s\+1\s\+/) { # true if '1' is sandwiched by 1st & 2nd '\s+' print OUT1; } else { if (/^.*?\s\+2\s\+/) { # true if '2' is sandwiched by 1st & 2nd '\s+' print OUT2; } else { die "saw something other than a 1 or 2 line\n"; } } } -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>