use strict; use warnings; my ( $host, %hash ); while () { chomp; next if /Folder/ or not $_; my ( $type, $name ) = /(\S+)\s*:\s*(\S+)/; if ( $type =~ "Host" ) { $host = $name; } elsif ( $type =~ "VM" ) { my $guest = $name; push @{ $hash{$host} }, $guest unless $guest ~~ @{ $hash{$host} }; } } print "Key '$_' has " . (scalar @{ $hash{$_} }) . " values.\n" for keys %hash; __DATA__ *******************Folder North*************** Folder : North Folder : Lab Host : host42016 VM : host42229 VM : host42235 VM : host42236 VM : host42237 VM : host42238 VM : host42239 VM : host42240 VM : host42241 VM : host42242 VM : host42252 Host : host42049 VM : host42361 VM : host42362 VM : host42363 VM : host42364 VM : host42365 VM : host42366 VM : host42367 VM : host42368 VM : host42369 VM : host42370 *******************Folder South*************** Folder : South Folder : Staging Host : host42124 VM : host42248 VM : host42249 VM : host42250 VM : host42230 VM : host42251 VM : host42243 VM : host42244 VM : host42245 VM : host42246 VM : host42247 Host : host42125 VM : host42299 VM : host42300 VM : host42301 VM : host42302 VM : host42303 VM : host42304 VM : host42305 VM : host42306 VM : host42307 VM : host42308