use strict; use warnings; my $file1 = <) { my ($key, $tail) = m/(.{24})(.*)/; push @{$f1Lines{$key}}, [$tail, $.]; } close IN; open IN, '<', \$file2; while () { my ($key, $tail) = m/(.{24})(.*)/; next unless exists $f1Lines{$key}; my @matches = @{$f1Lines{$key}}; print "Line $. of file2 ($key$tail) matches:\n"; print " line $_->[1] of file1 ($key$_->[0])\n" for @matches; } close IN;