$ perl -E 'my @x = "1.234 5.6789 -1.235" =~ /(-?\d+?\.?\d+)/g; say "@x"' 1.234 5.6789 -1.235 $ perl -E 'my @x = "1.234 5.6789-12.235" =~ /(-?\d+?\.?\d+)/g; say "@x"' 1.234 5.6789 -12 235