#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; my $max; while () { if (/rev(\d+)/) { if ($1 > $max){ $max = $1; } } } print "max rev = $max\n"; __DATA__ `-- added |-- add.txt `-- added1 |--action | |-- action.txt | `-- rev1 | | `-- rev9999.html | `-- rev2 | `-- rev1.html `-- add.html