A little correction , since you need to validate each element in the @list array. the pattern checking sequence must be within the foreach loop. foreach (@list) {if (! /\d{4}\-\d{2}\-\d{2}/ && $_ ne '') {$Flag=1;} if ($Flag ==1) {print "The date fields MUST be filled out correctly!"; exit;}} This is about it. Anandatirtha