my $phase = 0;
my $start = '<a';
my $finish = 'NGC:003288';
my $content = '';
while( <> ) {
    if ( $phase == 0 ) {
        if ( /$start(.*)$/ ) {
            $phase++;
            $_ = $1;
        }
        else {
            next;
        }
    }
    if ( $phase == 1 ) {
        if ( /(.*)$finish/ ) {
            $content .= $1;
            last;
        }
        $content .= $_;
    }
}