Check out substr. If you've got more questions, come back and ask for more help. Also, there's lots on the web on all sorts of ways of manipulating perl strings. When you find the function you need, look it up on perldoc, a very handy reference that I wish I'd discovered sooner! Also try SuperSearch, since it's quite likely someone else has already asked the same question.

People here are more likely to help, I've found, if you tell them what steps you've already taken to try and solve your own problem.
why_bird