use warnings; use strict; my ($newyork,$miami); while () { if ( $_ =~ /^NEW YORK:\s+(\S+)/ ) { $newyork = $1; $newyork = $newyork || 'NA'; next; } if ( $_ =~ /^MIAMI:\s+(\S+)/ ) { $miami = $1; $miami = $miami || 'NA'; next; } } __END__ NEW YORK: knicks CHICAGO: bulls MIAMI: heat LA: lakers