>perl -wMstrict -le "my $line = 'CLASS A SOLD ON 17/11/10 FOR SETTLEMENT ON 22/11/10 @ 145.59993'; ;; my $date = qr{ \d\d / \d\d / \d\d }xms; ;; my ($tdate) = $line =~ m{ (?: PURCHASED | SOLD) \s+ ON \s+ ($date) }xmsg; print qq{tdate: '$tdate'}; ;; my ($sdate) = $line =~ m{ SETTLEMENT \s+ ON \s+ ($date) }xmsg; print qq{sdate: '$sdate'}; " tdate: '17/11/10' sdate: '22/11/10'