my $string = "Happy Joy 002245:Dubloons 002256:hats 034523:paper clips 232344:pants 233394";
my @items = split /:/, $string;
my $number;
$number = $1 if $items[0] =~ m/(\d+)/;
print $number, "\n";

##</code><code>##

$number = $1 if $string =~ m/(\d+):/;
print $number, "\n";