#!/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; my $start= qr/^KEY$/; my $end = qr/^PATTERN$/; my $match; while () { if (my $hit= /$start/ .. /$end/) { $match= '' if /$start/; $match.= $_; print $match if $hit ne 0+$hit; } } __DATA__ KEY blah blahblah KEY blah ah other random stuff KEY blah ha other random stuff PATTERN asdf KEY fdas PATTERN