use strict;
use warnings;

my $templateformat = 'w<NM>b<NM>cm<CH>sw<SW>';
my $inputexample   = 'w8b8cm512swno';

my %type_matchers = (
   NM => qr/\d+/,
   CH => qr/\d+/,
   SW => qr/yes|no/,
);

my @field_names;
my @field_types;
while ($templateformat =~ /([^<]+)<([^>]+)>/g) {
   push(@field_names, $1);
   push(@field_types, $2);
}

# my $re = '^';
# $re .= "\Q$field_names[$_]\E((?:(?!\Q$field_names[$_+1]\E).)*)"
#    for 0..$#field_names-1;
# $re .= "\Q$field_names[-1]\E(.*)\\z";
# $re = qr/$re/s;

my $re = '^';
$re .= "\Q$field_names[$_]\E($type_matchers{$field_types[$_]})"
   for 0..$#field_names;
$re = qr/$re/s;

my @field_values = $inputexample =~ $re
  or die("Input \"$inputexample\" doesn't match the format defined by 
+template \"$templateformat\"\n");

local $, = "\t";
local $\ = "\n";
print(@field_names);
print(@field_values);
[download]

outputs

w       b       cm      sw
8       8       512     no
[download]

Updated: Replaced the commented paragraph with the one that follows due to a better understanding of the question. Both give the same answer.

Is the following something like what you're looking for...?

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $templateformat = 'w<NM>b<NM>cm<CH>sw<SW>';
my $inputexample = 'w8b8cm512swno';

my @first_array  = ($templateformat =~ /<([^>]*)>/g);
my @second_array = ($inputexample   =~ /\d+/g);

printf "First array = %s\n", Dumper(\@first_array);
printf "Second array = %s\n", Dumper(\@second_arrayt);

# Displays:
#
# First array = $VAR1 = [
#          'NM',
#          'NM',
#          'CH',
#          'SW'
#       ];
#
# Second array = $VAR1 = [
#          '8',
#          '8',
#          '512'
#       ];
[download]

From the op

and 8 8 512 no in another array

I think you may have missed extracting the "no" in the second array, although from the scanty problem description it's not at all clear that it might be wanted.

Cheers,

JohnGG

Whoops ... you're absolutely right!

My brain directly converted it from "no" to "number(s)" on input (as in and 8 8 512 numbers), so I didn't even look to see if it was part of the string.

I guess that validates blue_cowdawg's comments all the more, as far as the original question being a little bit vague.

---

s''(q.S:$/9=(T1';s;(..)(..);$..=substr+crypt($1,$2),2,3;eg;print$..$/

#! /usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $templateformat = 'w<NM>b<NM>cm<CH>sw<SW>';
my $inputexample = 'w8b8cm512swno';

if ($templateformat =~ /w(.+)b(.+)cm(.+)sw(\S*)\s*$/ ) {
  print "template found\n";
  my $first  = $1;
  my $second = $2;
  my $third  = $3;
  my $fourth = $4;
  print "first=$first, second=$second, third=$third, fourth=$fourth\n"
+;
}

if ($inputexample =~ /w(.+)b(.+)cm(.+)sw(\S*)\s*$/ ) {
  print "input found\n";
  my $first  = $1;
  my $second = $2;
  my $third  = $3;
  my $fourth = $4;
  print "first=$first, second=$second, third=$third, fourth=$fourth\n"
+;
}
[download]

I hope that helps!

is there any easy way to extract NM, NM, CH, SW in one array and 8 8 512 no in another array based on this template or any similar formats?

Looks like a job of regexen. What have you tried? Also, I'm not 100% sure I understand what your input really looks like. Your $templateformat and $inputexample sniglets don't much to clarify things. Are you apt to see NM, CH, SW tokens in one line of input and numerics in another?

If you'd provide a larger sample set (not much larger) of the input you're trying to parse, it would be easier to help you...

As I understand it,

$templateformat is a list of fieldname<fieldtype> records. It defines the record format to which the data will adhere. As such, one shouldn't hardcode b, w, etc.

The goal is to parse format strings such as $templateformat and use the info obtained to extract the values from records such as $inputexample.

I had to take some guesses at what NM (number), CH (appears numerical??) and SW (switch) matches, but it can easily be changed.

My solution.

use strict;
use warnings;

my $templateformat = 'w<NM>b<NM>cm<CH>sw<SW>';
$_  = 'w8b8cm512swno';
my(@values, @names, $val);

# In the example, @h will be ('w', 'NM', 'b', 'NM', 'cm', 'CH', 'sw', 
+'SW')
my @h = $templateformat =~ /(\w+)<(\w+)>/g;

for (my $ix=0; $ix + 1 < @h; $ix += 2){
    push(@names, $h[$ix +1]);
    # Match up to the next piece of template
    if($ix + 2 < @h){
    ($val, $_) = /$h[$ix](.+)($h[$ix +2].+)/ or die 'bad middle'}
    # or match to the end if there's no next piece
    else{
    ($val) = /$h[$ix](.+)/ or die 'bad end'};
    push(@values, $val)};

local($,, $\ ) = ("\t", "\n");
print(@names);
print(@values);
[download]

NM      NM      CH      SW
8       8       512     no
[download]

throop

my $templateformat = 'w<NM>b<NM>cm<CH>sw<SW>';
my $inputexample = 'w8b8cm512swno';

my @splittemplate = split /[^A-Z]+/,$templateformat;
[download]

my @splitinput = split /[^(\d)(no)]+/,$inputexample;
[download]