#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $line = "ssn|empNo|ncEmpName|empName|hireDate|ncAddr|addr|state|ncCity|city|zip";

my @columns = split /\|/, $line;

print "@columns[-1,-4,4,3]\n"; # "zip state hireDate empName"

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

#empNo|ncEmpName|empName|hireDate|ncAddr|addr|state|ncCity|city|zip";
my $line2 = "123445678 45612 11 Steve Smith 11012015 16 1001 Main Street GA 7 Atlanta 30553 x y z";

# Note: Looks like ncEmpName is "45612 11", a fixed width field

my @format_spec = qw(
   v    empNo
   f8   ncEmpName
   f11  enpName
   v    hireDate
   v    ncAddr
   f16  addr
   v    state
   v	ncCity
   f7   city
   v    zip
   v    x
   v    y
   v    z
);

my $regex = "^";
while (@format_spec)
{
   my $format = shift @format_spec; # pair wise in List::Util possible
   my $name   = shift @format_spec; # here keep it simple
   
   if ($format =~ /v/)  #variable length (no embedded spaces)
   {
       $regex .= '\s*(\S+)';
   }
   
   elsif ( (my $width) = $format =~ /\s*f(\d+)/) # fixed length,means
                                                 # embedded spaces
   {
       $regex .= '\s*(.{' . "$width})";  # \s cannot be within "" 
   }
   print "$regex\n";  #for debug, comment this out later  
}


my (@tokens) = $line2 =~ /$regex/;
print join ("|", @tokens), "\n";

__END__
The regex is built like this:
^\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{7})
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{7})\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{7})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{7})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)
^\s*(\S+)\s*(.{8})\s*(.{11})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{16})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(.{7})\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)


The "|" separated line is like this:
123445678|45612 11|Steve Smith|11012015|16|1001 Main Street|GA|7|Atlanta|30553|x|y|z

##</code><code>##

@tokens = map{s/\s*$//; $_;}@tokens;  #delete trailing spaces