open IN,'<1'; while () { $a = 1 if /Endpoint/; $b = 1 if /-/ and $a; if($a and $b){ if(/^\s+(.+)\s\(/){ $h{$1}{'x'} = ++$x if ! exists $h{$1}; $r .= $h{$1}{'x'}."."; } } $a = 0, $b = 0, ++$r{$r}, $r = '' if /data arrival time/ and $b; } close IN; foreach (sort keys %r) { print "$_: $r{$_}\n"; }