use strict; use warnings; my @cleared = ( 'JOB::HEREISASTRING', 'Something', 'StringA', 'StringB', 'StringC', 'StringD', 'Something Else', 'StringE', 'StringF', 'StringG', 'StringH ', 'JOB::HEREISANOTHERSTRING', 'Something', 'StringI', 'StringJ', 'StringK', 'StringL', 'Something Else', 'StringM', 'StringN', 'StringO', 'StringP ', ); my @result; my $prefix = '~~Something~~'; foreach my $x (@cleared) { if ($x =~ /JOB::(.*)/) { $prefix = ""; } elsif ($x =~ m/^Something Else/) { $prefix = "~~Something Else~~"; } elsif ($x =~ m/^Something/) { $prefix = "~~Something~~"; } print "$prefix$x\n"; } #### JOB::HEREISASTRING ~~Something~~Something ~~Something~~StringA ~~Something~~StringB ~~Something~~StringC ~~Something~~StringD ~~Something Else~~Something Else ~~Something Else~~StringE ~~Something Else~~StringF ~~Something Else~~StringG ~~Something Else~~StringH JOB::HEREISANOTHERSTRING ~~Something~~Something ~~Something~~StringI ~~Something~~StringJ ~~Something~~StringK ~~Something~~StringL ~~Something Else~~Something Else ~~Something Else~~StringM ~~Something Else~~StringN ~~Something Else~~StringO ~~Something Else~~StringP