my @res = $string =~ m/\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*(\S+)\s*/ ;
push @sps, $res[ $columnNumber ];

##</code><code>##

@res = split ' ', $string;
push @sps, $res[ $columnNumber ];

# or if you want one line
push @sps, (split ' ', $string)[$columNumber];