use warnings; my $text="ABCDE<\/Text>TUVWX"; my @splitted=[]; @splitted=split("\<\/Text\>".$text); print "0.".$splitted[0]."\n"; print "1.".$splitted[1]."\n"; __END__ Use of uninitialized value $_ in split at tmp.pl line 7. #### @splitted=split("\<\/Text\>".$text); # ^ #### @splitted=split(m!\<\/Text\>!, $text);