open (FILE, '<', 'sample.txt') or die "Could not open sample.txt: $!"; open (FILE1, ">output1.txt") or die "Could not open sample.txt: $!"; my @nums = ; my $start = "print from"; my $go = 0; my $sizeconf = scalar @nums; for my $num ( @nums ){ if ($num =~ /$start/) { $go = 1; } if($go){ print FILE1 "$num"; } my $end = "closing"; if ($num =~ /$end/ && $num !~ /$start/) { $go = 0; } }