my $result1 = `gunzip -c $file|cut -f3 -d'|'|sort|uniq -c`; #### ABC|123|CHECK|1| DEF|456|CHECK|1| GHI|789|CHECK|1| JKL|101|CHECK|1| ABC|123|CHECK|1| DEF|456|CHECK|1| GHI|789|CHECK|1| JKL|101|KCEHC|1| ABC|123|KCEHC|1| DEF|456|KCEHC|1| GHI|789|KCEHC|1| #### 2 4 CHECK 6 KCEHC #### my $r = `gunzip -c $file|cut -f3 -d'|'|sort|uniq -c`; my $c1 = substr( $r, 16,-2); my $c2 = substr( $, 9,-9);