ROB — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 02:46:40 +0000
# in this line the regex match is taking much longer than the chomp
chomp ($line) if ($line =~ /\n$/);
# why not just chomp (sorry nitpicking)

# in answer to your question, try something like this
my @stuff;
open(FILE, '/path/to/file') or die("error opening file: $!");
while(<FILE>) {
	chomp;
	@line = split(/\|/);

	# now you'd do something to determine if this @line is the stuff you want, if so break
	if($thisiswhatimlookingfor) {
		@stuff = @line;
		last;
	}
}
close FILE;

#make sure we found stuff
if($#stuff < 0) { die("Couldn't find the good stuff"); }

# the data you want is now @stuff
print "I have found stuff!";