That does make sense. However, I think your problem is in this loop: 
            while ( <$contin> )
                    {
                    if ( $contractors =~ m/^$string(.*)/ )
                        {
                    my @results = split(m#\s+#, $1);
                    print br;
                    print @results;
                        }
                     }
            close( $contin );
                }

[download]
Specifically I think you're running into a problem at 
if ( $contractors =~ m/^$string(.*)/ )

[download]
It looks like what you want to be doing is matching every line in $contin against your current $contractor where what you're actually doing is matching $contractor against your regex ^$string(.*) Try changing the above regex in the while loop to have something like 
            while ( <$contin> )
                    {
                    if ($_ =~ m/^$contractor(.*)/)
                        {
                    my @results = split(m#\s+#, $1);
                    print br;
                    print @results;
                        }
                     }
            close( $contin );
                }

[download]

In reply to Re^3: Using elements to search a file by jpearl
in thread Using elements to search a file by GC

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