#! /path/to/perl use strict; open (MAINFILE, "./TestFile") or die "Can't find file"; open (SFILE, "./SFile") or die "Can't find file"; my $search; while () { $search = $_; print "search string is $search"; } close ( SFILE ); print "Now opening the main file\n"; while () { if ( ! /$search/ ) { print "No Match found\n"; next; } else { print "Found $search in main file"; } } TestFile: Bus Bus(Mini) Car Van SFile: Bus(Mini)