my $index = 'path/to/file/file.name'; tie (@master, 'Tie::File', $masterList) or die "Can't tie $masterList"; foreach my $pos(@master){ chomp $pos; my $quickLook = qx(grep '^$pos' $index); my @split = split(/\t/,$quickLook); print $tFile $split[1]; push (@idxArray, $split[1]); }