use strict; use warnings; while () { if (/\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{4}\s+/) { print; } } =Prints: 03-15-2021 21.1.0-s102 2021/03/15:04:00:09 21.1 21.10-s102 21.1.0-s102 2021/03/15:04:00:09 21.1 21.10-s102 03-15-2021 **works** =cut __DATA__ 03-15-2021-1 21.1.0-s103 2021/03/15:14:16:39 21.1 21.10-s103 03-15-2021-2 21.1.0-s103 2021/03/15:14:16:39 21.1 21.10-s103 03-15-2021 21.1.0-s102 2021/03/15:04:00:09 21.1 21.10-s102 21.1.0-s102 2021/03/15:04:00:09 21.1 21.10-s102 03-15-2021 21.1.0-s102 2021/03/15:04:00:09 21.1 21.10-s102 03-15-2021-4