$line =~ s/^\$mypic\[0] = "(\w{3})"$/$1/g; #### my $newval; if ($line =~ /^\$mypic\[0] = "(\w{3})"$/) { $newval = $1; } else { # handle failure to get essential value } #### my $newval; unless ( ($newval) = $line =~ /(\w{3})"$/ ) { # handle failure to get essential value }