#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; my %status; while () { next unless /@/; my @fields = split; $status{$fields[1]} = $fields[0]; } use Data::Dumper; print Dumper (\%status); __DATA__ date:17/4/2000 version: 4.1.0 -more info- -more info- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Status id not important info (two columns) name ----------------------------------------------------------------- Run 1234 @ ... foo1 Wait 54123 @ ... foo2 -----------------------------------------------------------------