#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; my ($host, %seen); my $host_re = qr{ \A ( hostname \d+ [.] com ) \s* \z }msx; my $fail_re = qr{ \A ( .*? ) \s*? \z }msx; { local $/ = ""; while () { if (m{$host_re}) { $host = $1; print; } else { print unless $seen{$host}{(m{$fail_re})[0]}++; } } } __DATA__ hostname1.com Gateway FAIL Gateway FAIL Gateway FAIL hostname2.com Gateway FAIL Gateway FAIL Gateway FAIL