$text =~ s/ (.+?) (?:\s*\n)+ ((?: \d+ (?:\sPSI)? (?:\s*\n)+ ){4}) /push @r, [ $1, $2 =~ m|\d+ (?:\sPSI)?|xg ]/esgx; #### $text =~ s/ (.+?) (?:\s*\n)+ (?: (\d+ (?:\sPSI)?) (?:\s*\n)+ ) (?: (\d+ (?:\sPSI)?) (?:\s*\n)+ ) (?: (\d+ (?:\sPSI)?) (?:\s*\n)+ ) (?: (\d+ (?:\sPSI)?) (?:\s*\n)+ ) /push @r, [ $1, $2, $3, $4, $5 ]/esgx; #### my $sub_re = qr/ (\d+ (?:\sPSI)?) (?:\s*\n)+ /x; $text =~ s/ (.+?) (?:\s*\n)+ $sub_re $sub_re $sub_re $sub_re /push @r, [ $1, $2, $3, $4, $5 ]/esgx;