OK that worked for the lines printing. Thank you, I understand it. I just didn't know that PERL would know what lines to print if you split on the newline. I'm very unfamiliar with multi-line as I said. I'm having problems with one last thing though. I'll show you a small portion of the text I'm working with and what I want to do is limit what the script prints. I'm sorry you guys told me exactly what I wanted to know but I started off with a simple explanation, well as easy as I could so I could work on the last part later. I'll show you the text I'm going through then I'll show you how I modified Bike Nomads script with your idea and made it work.

mSOriginatingSMSinSMSIWMSC

Call Identification Number: 10275084
Record Sequence Number: 2205369
Exchange Identity: MAPP01E 0117802
MSC Identification: TON: 1 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 19207079800
Calling Party Number: TON: 1 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 19207029659
Date for Start of Charge: 01/07/18
Time for Start of Charge: 00:14:33
Traffic Activity Code:
TeleService Code: x'22
Service Centre Address: TON: 1 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 14147139800
Charged Party: 0
Miscellaneous Information: NULL

MSTerminating

Call Identification Number: 10275019
Related Call Number: 10275004
Record Sequence Number: 2205370
Exchange Identity: MAPP01E 0117802
MSC Identification: TON: 1 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 19207079800
Cell ID for First Cell: MCC: 310  MNC: 64  LAC: x'44D  CI: x'4F07
Incoming Route: MAD01TI
Outgoing Route: BAPL01O
Calling Party Number: TON: 4 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 6082572086
Called Party Number: TON: 1 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 16084466501
IMSI: 310640010049547
IMEI: NULL
Mobile Station Roaming Number: TON: 1 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 16084469974
Redirecting Number: NULL
Redirection Counter: 0
Original Called Number: NULL
Date for Start of Charge: 01/07/18
Time for Start of Charge: 00:14:33
Chargeable Duration: 00:00:00
Traffic Activity Code: *020
TeleService Code: x'11
Bearer Service Code: NULL
Internal Cause and Loc: LOCATION: 2   CAUSE: 61
Time from Register Seizure to Start of Charging: 00:00:18
Time for Stop of Charging: 00:14:33
Interruption Time: 00:00:00
Type of Calling Subscriber: 1
Disconnecting Party: 2
Charged Party: 1
Fault Code: NULL
eosInfo: x'0
Call Position: 2
Miscellaneous Information: NULL
Restart During Call: NULL
Restart Between Disc and Output: NULL
Origin for Charging: x'1
Cell ID for Last Cell: MCC: 310  MNC: 64  LAC: x'44D  CI: x'4F1D
Location Number: TON: 1 NPI: 1 MSISDN: 14147089800
Output for Subscriber: NULL
Last Partial Output: NULL
Partial Output Rec Num: NULL
Regional Service Used: NULL
Region Dependent Charging Origin: NULL
Transparency Indicator: NULL
dTMFUsed: NULL
Tariff Class: x'A
Tariff Switch Indicator: 0
SS Code: NULL
ICI Ordered: NULL
[download]

Now for the script

#!/usr/bin/perl

chomp($msisdn = <STDIN>);
$/ = ""; # read paragraphs
while ($para = <>) {

$lastHeading;

@lines = split(/\n/, $para);
if (@lines == 1) # A Heading
{

$lastHeading = $lines[0];
next;
}

my $hitMe;

if ($msisdn && $lastHeading eq "MSTerminating") {
#if ($lastHeading eq "MSTerminating") {
print $lines[13]; # twelth line 
print $lines[2];  # third line
print $lines[5];  # sixth line
print $lines[4];  # fifth line
}
elsif ($lastHeading eq "MSORIGINATING") {
$hitMe = $lines[5]; # sixth line
}
elsif ($lastHeading eq "mSOriginatingSMSinSMSIWMSC") {
print $lines[5];
}
}
[download]

As you can see from the script what I'm trying to do is have the Title of the record block and the lines I specifiy per block to print only if the script finds the $msisdn in any of the blocks. That's the phone number or 10th line #11th if you count Title "MSTerminating" as line 1 for a block. At the end the number is 6082572086. So for example since that is the number I'm interested in, the only record block which contains the number I'm searching for is "MSTerminating" and not any of the other record blocks so I'd want it to print off only the lines for "MSTerminating" as that is the only place the number was found.

I was thinking of doing "if (grep, $msisdn) {" then your if The && operator I used didn't seem to work. The && operator confuses me as to me the logic says if this and that do what I tell you to. It hates me though. I was thinking of doing a couple variations but you guys have helped me with the hardest part in my opinion because I didn't know multi-line. I'll remember what you guys taught me so I'm not back here nagging you guys all the time. I can write regex's to search inside files for single lines and search files in directories and "printem"(Possible new print statement? LOL) or pull them but this was something different and I read the books but half the stuff was reading greek to me cuz I never had to use it. Some of the stuff I think you just gotta use it to understand it.

Well please offer your advice on the last portion.
Thankyou lots,
Dave