Tie::File just makes this so much easier. 

type junk.dat

the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog
PAPBT.ROW
PAPBT.ROW MORE STUFF
PAPBT.ROW stuff
the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog
PAPBT.ROW stuff
PAPBT.ROW MORE STUFF
jumps over the lazy dog
jumps over the lazy dog
the quick brown fox
the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog
jumps over the lazy dog
PAPBT.ROW MORE STUFF
PAPBT.ROW

perl -mTie::File -e"tie @a,'Tie::File',$ARGV[ 0 ]; @a = grep!/^PAPBT.R
+OW/,@a"   junk.dat

type junk.dat

the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog
the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog
jumps over the lazy dog
jumps over the lazy dog
the quick brown fox
the quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog
jumps over the lazy dog

[download]
Examine what is said, not who speaks.
"Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
"Think for yourself!" - Abigail
"Memory, processor, disk in that order on the hardware side. Algorithm, algoritm, algorithm on the code side." - tachyon

In reply to Re: bewildering array element problem by BrowserUk
in thread bewildering array element problem by Anonymous Monk

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