#!/usr/bin/awk -f BEGIN{w="";save="false"} { if($0 == start){save="true"} if(save == "true"){w=w $0 "\n";} if($0 == finish){ save="false"; # case sensitive: if(index(w,find) != 0){print w} # case insensitive: # if(index(tolower(w),tolower(find)) != 0){print w} w = ""; } } END{}