my $content = do { local $/; }; my ( $ln, $start) = ( 1, 0); while ( $start < length $content ) { if ( substr( $content, $start) =~ s/.../.../ ) { print "line $ln changed\n"; } $start = 1 + index( $content, "\n", $start); ++ $ln; } __DATA__ aaa bbb ccc ddd eee