my $counter = 0; if ( $_ =~ /unassigned/ ) { $_ =~ s/.*\n//gi; #delete unassigned line $counter++; #count will be 1 and will be caught by next if statement } if ( $counter = 1 ) { $_ =~ s/.*\n//gi; #delete next line $counter++; #count will be 2 and will be caught by next if statement } if ( $counter = 2 ) { s/.*\n//gi; #delete the 2nd line after unassigned $counter = 0; #make count to 0 until $_ is something you are looking for }