Use the -a switch to autosplit to @F. 
    perl -lane 'print if $F[1] =~ /localhost/' /etc/hosts

[download]
or     perl -lne 'print if /localhost/' /etc/hosts --
John.

In reply to Re: What is the simplest way to print a field, as in $3 does in awk by jmcnamara
in thread What is the simplest way to print a field, as in $3 does in awk by Anonymous Monk

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