my @delim = qw(: :: / // \| \|\| \s+); mySplit \@delim, $str1; mySplit \@delim, $str2, 4; #### my @delim = qw(: :: / / \| \|\| \s+); mySplit \@delim, $str1; mySplit [ @delim[0..2] ], $str2;