use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dump; my $header; my %sequence; while ( my $line = ){ chomp $line; if ( $line =~ /^>(.*)/ ) { $header = $1; } else { $sequence{$header} .= $line; } } dd \%sequence; __DATA__ >sequence_5849 CCTGCGGAAGATCGGCACTAGAATAGCCAGAACCGTTTCTCTGAGGCTTCCGGCCTTCCC TCCCACTAATAATTCTGAGG >sequence_5959 CCATCGGTAGCGCATCCTTAGTCCAATTAAGTCCCTATCCAGGCGCTCCGCCGAAGGTCT ATATCCATTTGTCAGCAGACACGC >sequence_0808 CCACCCTCGTGGTATGGCTAGGCATTCAGGAACCGGAGAACGCTTCAGACCAGCCCGGAC TGGGAACCTGCGGGCAGTAGGTGGAAT