sub read_stuff
{
    my ($handle, $delim, $col) = @_;

    my $prep = '^\s*';
    $prep .= "\w+${delim}+" for 1 .. $col - 1;
    $prep .= "(\w+)(?:${delim}|$)";
    my $regex = qr/$prep/;
    my @list = map { /$regex/o } <$handle>;

    return @list;
}

my $handle = IO::File->new(filename => "some_file");
my @list = read_stuff($handle, ' ', 6);