my $date = qr/\d\d\.\d\d.\d\d\d\d/; my $fee = qr/\d\d\d\d\d\.\d\d| {8}/; my $digit3 = qr/[\d ]{3}/; my $alpha3 = qr/[\w ]{3}/; my $one = qr/ ^ \d\d (\d{5}) ($digit3) ($date) ($date) ($alpha3) ($alpha3) ($alpha3) (.) (.) ($alpha3) (.) (.) (.) (.) (.) # $ # the first line is an invalid length as well, it has trailing spaces /x;