$ perl -wE'my $item1="x\t\ty";my@tmp1=split(/t+\,$item1/);' Use of uninitialized value $_ in split at -e line 1. $ perl -wE'my $item1="x\t\ty";my@tmp=split(/t+/,$item1);say for@tmp' x y $ perl -wE'my $item1="x\t\ty";my@tmp=split(/\t+/,$item1);say for@tmp' x y