my @species = split "//", $list; foreach my $species(@species) { my @tree = edit($species); print @tree; } sub edit { my ($species) = @_; if($species =~ /RANK *: subspecies/ && $species =~ /PARENT ID * : (\d+)/) { my $pid = $1; # # print "$pid\n"; return `getz "[taxonomy:$pid]" -e`; } }