... open OUTPUT, $outputFile or die "Can't open $outputFile for writing $!\n"; open INPUTA, $inputFileA or die "Can't open $inputFileA for writing $!\n"; open INPUTB, $inputFileB or die "Can't open $inputFileB for writing $!\n"; while($fha=){ print "a: ",$fha; if($fha=~m/(\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2}).+(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})\d{2}_\d{2}\.abc/){ $timea=timegm($3,$2,$1,$4,$5,$6); $output_line=$fha; until($timeb>$timea){ $fhb=; print "b: ",$fhb; if($fhb=~m/(\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2}).+(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})\d{2}_\d{2}\.abc/){ $timeb=timegm($3,$2,$1,$4,$5,$6); if($timeb=$timea){ $output_line.=$fhb; } } } print OUTPUT $output_line,"\n"; } } close OUTPUT; close INPUTA; close INPUTB;