use warnings; use strict; local $/ = 'DELIMITING_TEXT'; my @array = ; chomp @array; local $" = '|'; print "@array\n"; __DATA__ some junk DELIMITING_TEXT test1 test2 test3 test4 DELIMITING_TEXT test1 test2 test1 test2 test1 test2 DELIMITING_TEXT test1 test2 DELIMITING_TEXT some junk