#!/usr/bin/perl use v5.20; my $s = <<'ENDSTR'; aaa : AAA bbb : BBB ccc : CCC ENDSTR my $m = 'bbb'; my $a = $s =~ s/.*^$m *: (.*?)$.*/$1/rsm; my $b = $s =~ s/[.\n]*?^$m *: (.*)$[.\n]*/$1/rm; print "a: $a\n"; print "b: $b\n";