.rem ********************************************************************** .rem * * .rem * deb123.rpt * .rem ********************************************************************** .rem .rem ------------------------ book_tab variables --------------------- .rem .declare book_no a14 .declare l_code a10 .burble nonsense directive here .declare l_book a12 .declare book_date a13 #### use strict; use warnings; my $inFile = q{spw623147.txt}; open my $inFH, q{<}, $inFile or die qq{open: $inFile: $!\n}; while ( <$inFH> ) { if ( m{\A\.rem} ) { print qq{ Comment Line: $_}; next; } if ( m{\A\.declare\s+(\S+)} ) { print qq{ Data Line: $_}; print qq{ Variable is: $1\n}; next; } print qq{Not recognised: $_}; } close $inFH or die qq{close: $inFile: $!\n}; #### Comment Line: .rem ********************************************************************** Comment Line: .rem * * Comment Line: .rem * deb123.rpt * Comment Line: .rem ********************************************************************** Comment Line: .rem Comment Line: .rem ------------------------ book_tab variables --------------------- Comment Line: .rem Data Line: .declare book_no a14 Variable is: book_no Data Line: .declare l_code a10 Variable is: l_code Not recognised: .burble nonsense directive here Data Line: .declare l_book a12 Variable is: l_book Data Line: .declare book_date a13 Variable is: book_date