#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; my $re = qr{^(.*)(?) { if (/$re/) { $line .= $1; next; } $line .= $_; print $line; $line = ''; } __DATA__ Line 1 Part A \ Line 1 Part B \ Line 1 Part C Line 2 ALL Line 3 Part X \ Line 3 Part Y Line 4 END WITH BACKSLASH \\ Line 5 LAST Z