Hello, Thanks for the reply.

But I don't think I can use grep as I don't know what are the data block in between teh search string.
My file layout is as follows:

------------------------------
Data
(numerous lines)
------------------------------
Data
(numerous lines)
------------------------------
Data
(numerous lines)
------------------------------
Data
(numerous lines)

And so on. I only need to get the 3 lines above and below the -----------
as well as the -------------

Thanks for any assistance

.