# assuming a record starts with a space...
my @records = split '\n ',$data;
my $header = shift @records;

# determine $num_of_records here ...

my $re_string = '\s+ (\d+) \s+ '.('(\S+)\s*' x $number_of_records);
my $re = qr/$string/x;

for (@records) {
  my @values = /$re/;
}

##</code><code>##

-- 
Joost       downtime n. The period during which a system
            is error-free and immune from user input.