Ah, that changes things a bit. Is there a distinct and consistent string pattern that separates one ipconfig output from another, such as a blank line, or a line of dashes?

If so, you can assign that string to "$/" (rather than leaving it with the default value of CRLF, or setting it to undef, as suggested by BrowserUK). This way, you read one whole ipconfig output set in a single iteration of while (<>). For example, if the successive records are separated by a single blank line (and blank lines never occur within a single ipconfig output record), then you could do like this (untested):

my %hostdata;
{
   $/ = "\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a";  # record separator is now a blank line

   while (<>) {   # $_ now contains one whole ipconfig output
      next unless ( /Host Name.*?:\s*(.*)/ );
      my $host = $1;
      @{$hostdata{$host}{dns}} = ( /\s(\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+)\s/g );
      ( $hostdata{$host}{typ} ) = ( /Node Type.*?:\s*(.*)/ );
   }
}

# Now, keys %hostdata gives the list of host names from
# all the ipconfig runs, and $hostdata{"hostname"} contains 
# the dns and node type info for each host.

for ( sort keys %hostdata ) {
   print join "\n", $_, @{$hostdata{$_}{dns}}, $hostdata{$_}{typ}, "\n
+";
}
[download]

If the separation between ipconfig runs is not distinct or consistent, then you'll want to fall back on BrowserUK's less-favored method that reads one line at a time and uses a status flag to keep track of what it's supposed to look for (and what it's supposed to do) as it works through each multi-line record.

It didn't dawn on me that HOW I was reading the file would affect how I parsed it. Your example looks like what my end goal is. I want to output each host into csv format and putting them into hashes seem the most logical. Here is a FULL sample of my input file with two computers. I read this file from STDIN and output the results in csv format. Another problem in this data is multiple adapters. My code up to know has choked on more than one adapter.

ipconfig start

Windows IP Configuration

  Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : axter-win2003
  Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : Axter2.home
  Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
  IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
  WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
  DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Axter2.home
                                      brnmll01.nj.comcast.net

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

  Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : brnmll01.nj.comcast.net
  Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SMC EtherPower II 10/100 Etherne
+t Adapter

  Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-29-0A-F5-E2
  DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
  Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
  IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.6
  Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
  Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
  DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
  DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 127.0.0.1
                                      192.168.0.1
  Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, September 16, 2003 6:18
+:13 PM
  Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, September 19, 2003 6:18:
+13 PM

ipconfig end

ipconfig start

Windows 98 IP Configuration

     Host Name . . . . . . . . . : LAPTOP.no.cox.net
     DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 205.152.132.235
                                   181.171.2.200
                                   10.10.10.1
     Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
     NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . : 
     IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No
     WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No
     NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No

0 Ethernet adapter :

     Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.
     Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-00
     DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
     IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 181.171.2.147
     Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
     Default Gateway . . . . . . : 181.171.2.147
     DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
     Primary WINS Server . . . . : 
     Secondary WINS Server . . . : 
     Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 01 01 80 12:00:00 AM
     Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 01 01 80 12:00:00 AM

1 Ethernet adapter :

     Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.
     Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-01
     DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
     IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
     Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
     Default Gateway . . . . . . : 
     DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
     Primary WINS Server . . . . : 
     Secondary WINS Server . . . : 
     Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 
     Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 

2 Ethernet adapter :

     Description . . . . . . . . : D-Link AIRPLUS Wireless LAN Adapter
     Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-80-C8-B5-76-1F
     DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
     IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 10.10.10.104
     Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
     Default Gateway . . . . . . : 10.10.10.1
     DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 10.10.10.1
     Primary WINS Server . . . . : 
     Secondary WINS Server . . . : 
     Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 06 19 03 2:51:53 PM
     Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 06 26 03 2:51:53 PM
ipconfig end
[download]

It is clear that my data is more complicated than my first example. I thought it would be easier to understand what I needed to do, but it only introduced more confusion. ;) Thanks to everyone that has responded, if anything I have learned some other techniques for manipulating my data.