#!/usr/bin/perl -lw use strict; my @lines; my $count=0; while( @lines[0..2]=( , , )) { $count++ if( ($lines[2]=~ m{^--$}) and ( index($lines[0], 'ABC SET') != -1)); } print "count: $count"; __DATA__ 1-23-abc45 (11:01) ABC SET foo foo foo. Foo data foo. -- 1-23-cba45 (12:02) ABC RUN foo foo foo. Foo data foo. -- 2-34-xyz21 (12:03) ABC SET foo foo foo. Foo data foo. !