use strict; use warnings; my @replicas; while (){ next if (! /^\d+/); /replica\s+"(.+)"/; push @replicas,$1; } __DATA__ 2005-04-01 root replica "ml_v_dialer" 2004-06-22 root replica "pu_v_dialer" 2006-02-11 ccvob01 replica "rd_v_dialer" "v_dialer replica for Redmond" 2003-11-25 root replica "v_dialer_drcalvin"