#!/usr/bin/perl my ($previous_key, $previous_line); open my $IN, "<", '/home/scripts/imageoutcome.txt' or die "cannot open $infile $!"; while (<$IN>) { my $key = $1 if /^(\w+)/; if ($key eq $previous_key) { print $previous_line if defined $previous_line; print $_; undef $previous_line; } else { $previous_line = $_; } $previous_key = $key; }