my @interesting = grep { (split /;/)[1] ne ' ' } ; print @interesting; __DATA__ AAD; ;CCR;365 TEC;UTF;TDE;450 TRE; ;FTE;164 TEC;URT;TDE;687 ERT; ;ETR;567 TEC;UGC;TDE;687 #### TEC;UTF;TDE;450 TEC;URT;TDE;687 TEC;UGC;TDE;687