#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my @input = ("Exception : CEX", "Exception : TEX", "abc def ljj"); print grep{/TEX/} grep{/^\s*Exception/}@input; print "\n"; print grep{/Exception/ && /TEX/}@input; print "\n"; print grep{/^\s*Exception.*? TEX/}@input; __END__ prints: Exception : TEX Exception : TEX Exception : TEX