$ cat somefile.txt afsdfv asdf[ABC]dafga asdfasf yxcvyxv[/ABC] asdadf yv[ABC]sdfb sdfgadfg [/ABC]adf asdf $ cat somefile.txt | NEEDEDONELINER > output.txt dafga asdfasf yxcvyxv sdfb sdfgadfg $ So the "NEEDEDONELINER" only outputs the characters between a [ABC] and [/ABC]. [ABC] could occur several times, and there could be random characters around it. I only need the random chars between the [ABC] and [/ABC]. I don't have time to learn Perl :\ Thank you in anticipiation!