#! perl -w my $buffer; LINE: while() { my $eof; # flase by default if(my $counter = (/^name\s.*\{/ ... (/^name\s.*\{/ || ($eof = eof)))) { if($counter == 1) { # begin $buffer = ''; } $buffer .= $_; if($counter =~ /E/) { # end if($buffer =~ /name(.*?)(^name|\z)/ms) { print "Found: $1\n"; } redo LINE unless $eof; # retry with same line, unless end condition is BECAUSE OF eof } } } __DATA__ name value { test 1; test 2; test 5; } name three { eat 4; eat 5; } name four { eat 6; eat 7; } #### Found: value { test 1; test 2; test 5; } Found: three { eat 4; eat 5; } Found: four { eat 6; eat 7; }