my $line1 = 'Oct 9 08:50:53 mail_server sendmail[30172]: j99FopoN030172: from=, size=0, class=0, nrcpts=0, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=[218.1.114.182]'; my $line2 = 'Oct 9 04:20:35 mail_server sendmail[20773]: j975sOqf032312: to=<522-2204194-1-13-51954mpxas@dimexpress.com>, delay=2+05:26:11, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=esmtp, pri=19293815, relay=mail.xpress.com'; if ($line1 =~ /relay=\[?(.*?)\]?$/) { print $1, "\n"; } if ($line2 =~ /relay=\[?(.*?)\]?$/) { print $1, "\n"; }