note mifflin thanks, that worked... <c> > cat x my $data = 'jlasflsf.xmljlasjlkjlasjflsdf.xmlklajlajlsdfjkl.xml'; while (pos $data < length $data) { if ( $data =~ m{ \G ( .+? \. xml) }gcxms ) { print "$1\n"; } } > perl x jlasflsf.xml jlasjlkjlasjflsdf.xml klajlajlsdfjkl.xml </c> 630328 630331