#!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; while () { if (my $flip = /^start/ ... /^[^+]/) { print unless $flip =~ /E/; } } __DATA__ start text + 123 + 456 + 789 some other text not starting with + #### ($q=q:Sq=~/;[c](.)(.)/;chr(-||-|5+lengthSq)`"S|oS2"`map{chr |+ord }map{substrSq`S_+|`|}3E|-|`7**2-3:)=~y+S|`+$1,++print+eval$q,q,a,