use strict; use warnings; use Data::Dumper; my @replica; while (){ next if (! /^\d+/); /replica\s+"(.+)"/; push @replica,$1; } print Dumper \@replica; __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"