my $search = $dbh->prepare("SELECT * FROM tblimport"); $search->execute; my (@rec,@news); while(@rec = $search->fetchrow_array){ my @array = join("\t",@rec); foreach(@array){ my ($id,$old,$new,$length,); if(/^([^\t]+)\t([^\t]+)\t([^\t]*)\t([^\t]+)$/){ $new = $3; if($new){ push @news, $_; } } } }