I don't know how you wish to use the data but to split out each character group (Except "UFOFH")into an array try this snippet $_='UFOFH 33603 01231 /0000 0024/ 1024/ 2025/ 3027/ 4030/ 5025/ 6028/ 7060/ 8081/ 9098/ 0110/ 1107/ 2106/ 3102/ 4080/ 5065/ 6057/ <\p>'; my @mailbox=( m#([0-9//]{5})#g); for my $i (0 .. $#mailbox) { print "mailbox[$i] => $mailbox[$i]\n"; }; which results in mailbox[0] => 33603 mailbox[1] => 01231 mailbox[2] => /0000 mailbox[3] => 0024/ mailbox[4] => 1024/ mailbox[5] => 2025/ mailbox[6] => 3027/ mailbox[7] => 4030/ mailbox[8] => 5025/ mailbox[9] => 6028/ mailbox[10] => 7060/ mailbox[11] => 8081/ mailbox[12] => 9098/ mailbox[13] => 0110/ mailbox[14] => 1107/ mailbox[15] => 2106/ mailbox[16] => 3102/ mailbox[17] => 4080/ mailbox[18] => 5065/ mailbox[19] => 6057/