in reply to Splitting a file into records

If I were you I would use the input record separator to split between headlines and records:

$/="\n\n"; print my $head=<DATA>; while ( my $store = <DATA>) { my $listing =<DATA>; chomp($store,$listing); print "\n\n<<<$store>>>\n$listing"; } __DATA__ STORE MONITORING REPORT as of 13-05-02 10:05:07 Scanning for FTFIMS STORE002 -rwxr-xr-- 1 admins store 59025 Apr 11 2012 eft100.cbr 16295 58 -rwxr-xr-- 1 admins store 61143 Nov 15 15:47 chk075.cbr 33334 60 yadda yadda ... STORE006 -rwxr-xr-- 1 admins store 59025 Apr 11 2012 eft100.cbr 16295 58 -rwxr-xr-- 1 admins store 61143 Nov 15 15:47 chk075.cbr 33334 60 yadda yadda ...

another approach would be using the flip-flop-operator aka Range Operators.

Cheers Rolf

( addicted to the Perl Programming Language)