Try this: 
use strict;
use warnings;

my $str=<<'foo';
lease 10.2.56.40 {
        starts 3 2003/08/20 10:37:28;
        ends 3 2003/08/20 22:37:28;
        hardware ethernet 00:20:af:52:12:0f;
        uid 01:20:af:52:12:0f;
        client-hostname "Telephone";
}
lease 10.2.56.75 {
        starts 3 2003/08/20 09:57:11;
        ends 3 2003/08/20 21:57:11;
        hardware ethernet 00:ef:18:ae:52:83;
        uid 01:00:ef:18:ae:52:83;
        client-hostname "beast";
}
lease 10.2.56.77 {
        starts 2 2003/08/19 21:13:05;
        ends 3 2003/08/20 21:13:05;
        hardware ethernet 00:02:95:9b:78:18;
        uid 01:02:0b:95:9b:78:18;
}

foo

my $l = '10.2.56.77';
if ($str =~ /lease\s+\Q$l\E\s+\{.*?\}/s) {
  print "$&\n";
}

[download]
The regexp expanded: 
 /
   lease   # literal
   \s+     # one or more white space chars
   \Q      # escape the lease so that the .'s aren't special
   $l      # the lease to find
   \E      # end the escape
   \s+     # more white space
   \{      # literal
   .*?     # slurp until } (non-greedy)
   \}      # literal
/sx

[download]


-pete
"Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere."

In reply to Re: newb regular expression question by dreadpiratepeter
in thread newb regular expression question by Anonymous Monk

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