open my $file,"<","/path/to/file.txt" or die "Can't read file: $!"; while (<$file>) { # reads one line of text # the line string is in $_ # the line number is in $. if ($. <= 10000) { print "ORA found on line $.\n" if /ORA/; } elsif ($. <= 20000) { print "Failed found on line $.\n" if /Failed/; } else { print "File found on line $.\n" if /File/; } } close $file;