filelength=wc -l array.txt for ((i=1;i<=filelength;i+=1)) do if [ sed -n $i/.*<\/key>/p array.txt ] for ((j=i;j<=filelength;j+=1)); do if [ sed -n $i /.*<\/string>/p array.txt ] then # insert code that will take key and string and insert them into an array fi done fi done