my $l = "WINGFRAME MACH1;VECTORTHRUST 40 00 40 40;VECTORTHRUST 60 00 40 90;VECTORTHRUST 10 40 30 10;VECTORTHRUST 80 10 10 10;VECTORTHRUST 60 10 95 00;VECTORTHRUST 70 00 60 00;VECTORTHRUST 80 00 70 90;VECTORTHRUST 60 50 80 90;VECTORTHRUST 60 40 80 10;WINGFRAME MACH2;VECTORTHRUST 40 00 40 40;VECTORTHRUST 60 00 40 90;VECTORTHRUST 10 40 30 10;VECTORTHRUST 80 10 10 10;VECTORTHRUST 60 10 95 00;VECTORTHRUST 70 00 60 00;VECTORTHRUST 80 00 70 90;VECTORTHRUST 60 50 80 90;VECTORTHRUST 60 40 80 10;"; my @a = split(/WINGFRAME /,$l); foreach (@a) { print $_,"\n"; } print scalar (@a),"\n";