$ cat replica my @dialers; while () { chomp; push @dialers, $1 if /replica\s+"([^"]+)/; } print $_, "\n" for @dialers; __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" $ perl replica ml_v_dialer pu_v_dialer rd_v_dialer v_dialer_drcalvin