syslog before the following command:
Oct  7 08:30:01 deneb sendmail[13183]: [ID 801593 mail.info] g97CU1r13183: from=
cmjohnso, size=252, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<200210071230.g97CU1r13183@deneb.us
lec.net>, relay=cmjohnso@localhost
Oct  7 08:30:01 deneb sendmail[13185]: [ID 801593 mail.info] g97CU1r13183: to=cm
johnso, ctladdr=cmjohnso (10052/1), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=loca
l, pri=120252, relay=local, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent

% perl -i -p del.pl /var/log/syslog

syslog after the above command:
cmjohnso@deneb$ cat syslog
Oct
Oct


##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

my @line = split(" ",$_);
print "$line[0]\n";
$_ = '';