open FILE, '>log_'.$expt_name.'.txt' or die "Can't open file : $!\n"; print FILE "***********************\n"; my @Ids=`zcat $log_files | sed -e 's/\\\n/\\n/g' | grep -B5 'name\?'| grep Id`; foreach (@Ids){ print $_."\n"; #Search and print the first occurence of after $_ } close FILE;