note blue_cowdawg <ul><ul><i> </i></ul></ul> <p> Consider this solution: <code> #!/usr/bin/perl -w ######################################################################## use strict; use Tie::File; tie my @fin,"Tie::File","multilines.txt" or die $!; for(my $ix=0;$ix <= $#fin;$ix+=4){ my @lines=(); foreach (my $iy=0;($iy < 4) && (($ix+$iy)<=$#fin);$iy++){ push @lines, $fin[$ix+$iy]; } printf "Lines starting with line %d:\n%s\n\n",$ix+1,join("\n",@lines); } untie @fin; </code> [Tie::File] lets you play with files as if they were arrays and is part of the standard Perl distribution. </p> <div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-72516"> <hr> <font size="-2"> Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional<br> Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg<br> </font> </div></div> 1007560 1007560