note jwkrahn <blockquote><i><c> #obtain the length to match according to ps aux { print "#Enter the block just once\n"; last if $strindex; $strindex = index($_, "STAT"); #obtain how characters the RegEx should not match } #no more of this besides the first line </c></i></blockquote> <p> A simpler way to do that: </p> <c> $strindex = $-[0] if ?STAT?; </c> 997529 997529