Question

I have a simple search script that takes user input and searches across directories & files and just lists the files it is found in. What I want to do is to be able to is when a match is found, grab 4 lines above it, and 3 lines below it and print it. So, lets say I have.

somefile.html

"a;lskdj a;sdkjfa;klsjdf a aa;ksjd a;kjaf ;;jk;kj asdfjjasdjjfajsd  jdjd
jdjajsdf<blah></blah> ok ok okasdfa stes test tes tes test test<br>

blah blah blah ok, I vouch for the sincerity of my post all day long.
Even though I can sometimes be a little crass.

I would only know the blue moon of pandora if I saw it. I heard tales of long ago 
times in which .. blah blah

<some html>whatever some number 76854</some html>

running thru files of grass etc.. ===> more info
whatever more "

and lets say I want to find "76854" it would print or store in an array so I can print all matches found in dirs/files.

*Match found:*

**I would only know the blue moon of pandora if I saw it. I heard tales of long ago 
times in which .. blah blah
<some html>whatever whatever</some html>
running thru files of grass etc.. ===> more info
whatever more**


**********************************

Something like that. So far I have and it is working by printing out files in which it finds a match:

if ($args->{'keyword'}){
    if($keyword =~ /^\d+$/){
    print "Your Results are as Follows:\n";
        find( sub
            {
                local $/;
                return if ($_ =~ /^\./);
                return unless ($_ =~ /\.html$/i);
                stat $File::Find::name;
                return if -d; #is the current file a director?
                return unless -r; # is the file readable?
                open(FILE, "< $File::Find::name") or return;
                my $string = <FILE>;
                close (FILE);
                print "$keyword\n";
                if(grep /$keyword/, $string){
                    push(@resultholder, $File::Find::name);
                }else{
                   return;
                }
             },'/app/docs/');
    print "Results: @resultholder\n";
    }else{
        print "\n\n ERROR\n";
        print "*************************************\n\n";
        print "Seems Your Entry was in the wrong format \n\n";
        print "*************************************\n\n";
    }
exit;
}

Answer 1

So you need to store at least 8 lines, and output those 8 lines when the 5th line matches your pattern. The shift operator, for removing an element from the front of an array, and the push operator, for adding an element to the end of a list, could be helpful here.

find( sub {
    ...  # but don't set $\

    open( FILE, '<', $File::Find::name) or return;
    my @buffer = () x 8;
    while (<FILE>) {
        shift @buffer;
        push @buffer, $_;
        if ($buffer[4] =~ /\Q$keyword\E/) {
            print "--- Found in $File::Find::name ---\n";
            print @buffer;
            # return?
        }
    }
    close FILE;

    # handle the case where the keyword is in the last ~4 lines of the file.
    while (@buffer > 5) {
        shift @buffer;
        if ($buffer[4] =~ /\Q$keyword\E/) {
            print "--- Found in $File::Find::name ---\n";
            print @buffer;
        }
    }
} );