c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my @input = ( 'PING foo wrong', 'PING check_nrpe wrong', 'PING contact_groups wrong', 'PING check_nrpe contact_groups wrong', 'PING contact_groups check_nrpe wrong', 'foo wrong', 'check_nrpe wrong', 'contact_groups wrong', 'check_nrpe contact_groups BINGO!', 'contact_groups check_nrpe BINGO!', ); ;; my $check = 'check_nrpe'; my $con = 'contact_groups'; ;; for my $list (@input) { next if $list =~ /PING/; ;; print qq{'$list'} if $list =~ /$check/ && $list =~ /$con/; } " 'check_nrpe contact_groups BINGO!' 'contact_groups check_nrpe BINGO!'