$dir = 'C:/texts/'; opendir(directory, $dir) or die "cant"; while ( $file = readdir directory) { next if $file=~/^\./; $rfname = $dir.$file; # print "Found file: '$rfname'\n"; open (CONT, $rfname); while () { if ( $_ =~ m/[0-3]?[0-9(th)?(st)?(nd)?(rd)?]\s+(Jan(uary)?|Feb(ruary)?|Mar(ch)?|Apr(il)?|May|Jun(e)?|Jul(y)?|Aug(ust)?|Sep(tember)?|Oct(ober)?|Nov(ember)?|Dec(ember)?)\s+[0-9]?[0-9]?[0-9][0-9]/ig ) { print "$file\t $_\n"; } elsif ( $_ =~ m/(Jan(uary)?|Feb(ruary)?|Mar(ch)?|Apr(il)?|May|Jun(e)?|Jul(y)?|Aug(ust)?|Sep(tember)?|Oct(ober)?|Nov(ember)?|Dec(ember)?)\s+[1-3]?[0-9](th)?(nd)?(st)?(rd)?\s+[0-9]?[0-9]?[0-9][0-9]/ig ) { print "$file\t $_\n"; } } }