You may find this helpfull if your real data is of modest size:

use strict;
use warnings 'all';

my $str = do {local $/ = undef; <DATA>};
my @Rec = $str =~ /-+\s+show switchname\s+-+[^\w]+(\w+)/ig;

print "$_\n" for @Rec;
[download]

Prints:

CCC217_ANG_GREEN
CCC218_ANG_GREEN
CCC219_ANG_GREEN
CCC220_ANG_GREEN
[download]

Update: Silly programmer mixed input and output seperators :(

while (<DATA>)
{
   chomp;
   next if /^$/;
   next if /^[* -]/;
   print "$_\n";
}
[download]

update:
Corrected regex

Thanks for this

But I want to make sure that I grab the data immidiatly follows the string "-+ show switchname -+".This is in case if there is another pattern similer to your suggestion.
Blackadder

my $data = join("\n", <DATA>);

while ($data =~ /-+ show (\S+) -+\s(.*?)\s\*{40}/sg) {
   print "switchname $1\n";
   print "data $2\n";
}
[download]

this is kool too. But I thought the \* is {66}! Anyway,...Thanks alot
Blackadder

Hi,

What about the following:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

while (<DATA>) {
    # only check between --- show switchname --- and *****
    if ( /^-+ show switchname -+/ .. /^\*+/ ) {
        # only pick up the word between these two lines
        print "$1\n" if /(^\w+)/;
    }
}

__DATA__
 show tech-support details

-------------------- show switchname ------------------
CCC217_ANG_GREEN
******************************************************************
 show tech-support details

-------------------- show switchname ------------------
CCC218_ANG_GREEN
******************************************************************

 show tech-support details

-------------------- show switchname ------------------
CCC219_ANG_GREEN
******************************************************************
 show tech-support details

-------------------- show switchname ------------------
CCC220_ANG_GREEN
******************************************************************
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The code indicates clearly what it's about. We use .. to only look at 'blocks' in the file and then process the block lines with a regexp looking up a single word (the first word on the line actually).

---- show ---- doesn't begin with a word, and,

************** isn't a word either.

Using .. makes updating the code later on very easy. (Imagine that there are 2 lines between ---- and ****

That's it almost. The OP wanted to catch the data between those lines. So, modifying your code, something like this should work:

    if ( my $hit= /^-+ show switchname -+/ .. /^\*+/ ) {
        next if $hit==1 or $hit =~ /e0$/i;
        # When we're here, it's one of those lines in between
        # Now do whatever you want with the data....
    }

<!-- Node text goes above. Div tags should contain sig only -->
<div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-253915">
<hr><code>$\=~s;s*.*;q^|D9JYJ^^qq^\//\\\///^;ex;print
[download]

Yes, This is good

But I think it can all be done in one liner!

Like Browser_UK suggestion.

$Rec->{$1} = $2 if ($_=~ /-+\s+show (switchname)\s+-+\n(\w+)\n\*+/mg);
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Blackadder

TIMTOWTDI

It's easy to write code that a computer can read, it's not so easy to write code that a human can understand.

It's a choice. The 'select' can easily be written as a single regexp. But think about later? What's easier to adapt? The single statement or the multiple statement?

I, for one, like code that shows its intend, even when coding in perl ;)

--
if ( 1 ) { $postman->ring() for (1..2); }

If your file is too big for slurping, you can set $/="*\n", so that you read mutiple lines each time.

#! c:/perl/bin/perl.exe
#
#
$|++;
AUTOLOAD;

use strict;
use warnings 'all';
my $Rec;

$/ = "*\n"; ## Define the record separator to the end of the multiple 
+line record

while (<DATA>)
{
   chomp;
   next if ($_ eq "");
   $Rec->{$1} = $2 if ($_=~ /-+\s+show (switchname)\s+-+\n(\w+)\n\*+/m
+g);
   print "$1 $2\n";
}
close DATA;
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Note. You were missing an \n between (w+) and \*+. and as coded, $1 will always be 'switchname' and so the values will always overlay each other. I'm not sure what you were looking to do here?

Now what can I say?...Thanks indeed Buddy

I have been humbled - yet again - by your vast knowledge Mr. Browser_UK.

Thanks to all, I have learnt one or two things about RegEx.

VIVA PERLMONKS
Blackadder