use warnings; use strict; my @lines = ( "myserver.it.ca. XXXX XXX XXX XXXXXXXXXXX", "myserver.it.org. XXXX XXX XXX XXXXXXXXXXX", "myserver.it.com. XXXX XXX XXX XXXXXXXXXXX", ); for my $line (@lines){ my $server = (split /\s+/, $line)[0]; $server =~ s/\.$//; print "$server\n"; } __END__ myserver.it.ca myserver.it.org myserver.it.com