($meanH1, $meanH2) = /^\s{9}(.*?)\s{10}(.*?)$/; # Or you may be able to generalize it a bit more with: ($meanH1, $meanH2) = /^\s*(.*?)\s*(.*?)\s*$/; # Or, if the second option is true, you could event use: ($meanH1, $meanH2) = split; # Which is a short hand version for ($meanH1, $meanH2) = split /\s+/, $_;