#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; open(FILE,"test.txt"); my $line=; my $prev_name; my $prev_id; my ($new_id,$new_name); do{ ($prev_id,$prev_name)=split (' ',$line); do{ $line=; ($new_id,$new_name)=split (' ',$line); $new_id=~/^(n.+?)\.\d+/; my $check=$1; if ($check=~/$prev_id/){ print "$prev_id\n"; $prev_name.=$new_name; } else{ print "$prev_id $prev_name" ; } }while ($prev_id=~/$new_id/); }until eof(FILE);