while () { next unless ( /.:\s*\S/ ); # necessary/sufficient condition for what follows my ( $lang, $text ) = split /:/, $_, 2; if ( $lang eq "Default" ) { $englishword = trim( $text ); # takes care of chomping } elsif ( $lang eq "Spanish_LatinAmerican|es_MX" ) { $spanishword = trim( $text ); $langhash{$spanishword} = $englishword; } }