#!/usr/bin/env perl -l use strict; use warnings; my $line7 = ''; my $re = qr{/translation="([^"]+)"}; while () { if (/^\s+\/translation=/ .. /^\s+exon/) { $line7 .= $_; } else { $line7 ? last : next; } } my ($extract) = $line7 =~ $re; $extract =~ s/\s+//g; print $extract; __DATA__ ... /db_xref="GI:2735715" /translation="MLSFVDTRTLLLLAVTLCLATCQSLQEETVRKGPAGDRGPRGER GPPGPPGRDGEDGPTGPPGPPGPPGPPGLGGNFAAQYDGKGVGLGPGPMGLMGPRGPP YASQNITYHCKNSIAYMDEETGNLKKAVILQGSNDVELVAEGNSRFTYTVLVDGCSKK TNEWGKTIIEYKTNKPSRLPFLDIAPLDIGGADHEFFVDIGPVCFK" exon 2432..2501 ...