Try this: 
while (<DATA>)
{
    /\d\s+(.*?)\s+seconds$/i && print "Test Data: $1\n";
}
__DATA__
192.168.1.1 seconds
192.168.1.1 links.html links, index.html index 10 seconds 
192.168.1.1 article1.html  art1, article2.html art2, adpage 200 second
+s

[download]
As for how to explain what you were doing wrong ... I've got a feeling you missed something in what tools you should apply. The flip-flop operator ("..") works something like: 
while (<DATA>)
{
    next unless /START/ .. /END/;

    print $_;
}
__DATA__
asdf
START
1
2
3
END
asdf

[download]

------
We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.

In reply to Re: Select data between a START and END pattern by dragonchild
in thread Select data between a START and END pattern by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.