my $file; my @lines; open FH, 'yourlogfile.log'; @lines = ; LINE: while ($file = pop @lines) { if ( $file =~ m/^ERR*/ ) { print "$file\n"; } last LINE if ($file !~ m/^$today*/ && $file =~ m/^(\S+\s+\S+\s+\d+)\s+\d+:\d+:\d+\s+(\d+)/x ); }