#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; open FILE_1, 'file1.txt' || die "ERROR:\t$!\n"; open FILE_2, 'file2.txt' || die "ERROR:\t$!\n"; while ( my $line = ) { my ( $filename, $accounts, @nonrelevant ) = split( /\t/, $line ); next if ( $accounts exists( @{[]} ) ); print "$accounts:\t$filename\n"; } close FILE_1; close FILE_2;