I'm going to guess that what you want to do is to "match data in column 2 of a file if the current or previous non-blank entry in column 1 matches another condition". I'd also guess that Excel doesn't have anything to do with the problem.

I'm guessing this because, despite being given the opportunity to do so, you haven't explained clearly what you want to do.

Here is an example program based on the above assumptions: 

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w

    use strict;

    my $pattern1 = qr/encryption/;
    my $pattern2 = qr/encryption/;
    my $in_match = 0;

    while (<DATA>) {
        next unless /\S/; # Skip blank lines
        chomp;

        my ($command, $output) = split /\|/;

        if ($command =~ /\S/) {
            $in_match = $command =~ $pattern1;
        }

        if ($in_match and $output =~ $pattern2) {
            print $_, "\n";
        }

    }


    __DATA__
    Command                 |  output    
    show run in encryption  |  service password-encryption
                            |  fsddfsfsdfsdfsd sdfs sd
                            |  encryption
                            |  foo
    show ntp status         |  clock synchronised. 34.45.54.54
                            |  some other text
    encryption1             |  encryption2

[download]

If this program isn't something like what you are looking for then you are really going to have to show a clear example in code or pseudo-code of what you are trying to do, with clear input and expected output.

--
John.

In reply to Re: data formatting in excel by jmcnamara
in thread data formatting in excel by pingme8705

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