open(T,"<$ARGV[0]"); my (@data,$count); foreach((@data = )){++$count;(/$ARGV[1]/)?eval{print;for(1..$ARGV[2]){print $data[$count] if defined $data[++$count];};exit()} : undef;} close(T); #### one two thrtestee four five six werwr werwer seen? #### # perl -w script.pl datafile pattern numlines perl -w script.pl data.dat test 4