my $text = <<'END_OF_TEXT';
line 1 apple
banana line 2
line cherry 3
END_OF_TEXT
    ;
while ( $text =~ m/(apple|banana|cherry)/ig ) {
    my $word = $1;
    my $prelines = ( $` =~ tr/\n// );
    printf qq{Word "%s" found on line %d\n}, $word, $prelines + 1;
}
__END__
Word "apple" found on line 1
Word "banana" found on line 2
Word "cherry" found on line 3