#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $seqnum=1; while (my $seq=) { chomp $seq; print "sequence #",$seqnum++,":\n"; while ($seq =~ /M([GAVLIFWPSTCYNQDEKRH]+)_/g) { print "\t",$1,"\n"; # or: print "\t","M${1}_","\n"; } } __DATA__ MHGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD_MHGRRRRRRRRD_ CMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVTECMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVT AWPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP_LNAWPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP_L FOOBARMNOTTHISONE_XYZMTHISYES_MTHISNOT_