my $word="test"; while() { next if !/$word/i; while(/\b($word)\b/gi) { my $pre = $`; my $col; ($pre eq "") ? ($col = 0):($col = split/\s+/, $pre); print "The word repeated in Line ".$.." and in column ".++$col."\n"; } } __DATA__ This is a test from tester okay nothing message test center test test in proress ... test one test two __END__ Output as: ---------- The word repeated in Line 1 and in column 4 The word repeated in Line 3 and in column 2 The word repeated in Line 3 and in column 4 The word repeated in Line 4 and in column 1 The word repeated in Line 4 and in column 5 The word repeated in Line 4 and in column 7