use FileHandle; $fh = new FileHandle ') { if ($in_body) { if (m{SUMMARY.*?>}i) { $in_body = 0; } else { ($row1, $row2) = split ; # print "$row1", "\t", "$row2" , "\n"; print; } } elsif (m{/SUMMARY.*?>}i) { $in_body = 1; # print; }