Start with the library. The intro to data structures is excellent. It would be easy to make it a list of lists just through your file into an array and then search by position. @C = <INFILE>; $start = 0; foreach $foo(@C) { until ($start > $#@C) if($foo$start=~/joe || bob/) {push (@NewUser,$foo$start); $start++; push (@NewUser,$foo$start); $start++; push (@NewUser,$foo$start); $start++; push (@NewUser,$foo$start); $start++;} $start++;} {push (@AllUsers, @NewUser;} you get @AllUsers = ( 'joe','2','9','8', 'bob','4','u','2', ); or a hash where Joe is the key and the value is a list of the next three lines. Just my little thoughts. Gandalf tea Wednesday.