my $s = my $t = my $u = qq(\t";    );

for ( $s ) {
  s/"//; s/;//; s/^\s+//; s/    //;
}

$t =~ s/(^\s+)|\s{4}|[";]+//;

$u =~ s/(^\s+)|\s{4}|[";]// for 1..4;

print "<$s>\n";
print "<$t>\n";
print "<$u>\n";
__END__
<>
<";    >
<>