my @lines = qw(foo foo2foo bar bar2bar baz2 bell bell1bell); print "Method 1\n"; for my $i (0..$#lines){ if ( $lines[$i] =~ /2/ ){ print "$lines[$i], $lines[$i + 1]\n"; } } print "\n\nMethod 2\n"; for (my $i=0; $i <= $#lines; $i++){ if ( $lines[$i] =~ /2/ ){ print "$lines[$i], $lines[$i + 1]\n"; $i++; } }