Why not try a split? I process many HTML files with this command. Split the file on every occurance of <TABLE and you won't have to worry about eating up too many tables.

@parsedfile = split(/\<TABLE/,$file);
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This way, you can concentrate on only one table at time and won't have to worry about greedy regexps.

foreach $line (@parsedfile) {
  if ($line =~ /cellpadding\=2/) {
    do whatever
  }
}
[download]

John Coswell - http://www.coswell.com