my $part = `sysutil | grep Total`; #### my ($part) = grep { /^\s*Total/ } `sysutil`; #### my ($conn, $sess, $job) = (split(/\s+/, (grep { /^\s*Total/ } `sysutil`)[0]))[2..4]; #### my ($part) = grep { /^\s*Total/ } `sysutil`; my ($conn, $sess, $job) = (split(/\s+/, $part))[2..4]; #### my ($conn, $sess, $job) = `sysutil` =~ /^ \s+ Total \s+ (\S+) \s+ (\S+) \s+ (\S+) /xm; #### sub select_fields { @_[@{shift(@_)}] } sub head { $_[0] } # Shortcut for "select_fields [0]," my ($conn, $sess, $job) = select_fields [2..4], # Extract totals. split /\s+/, # Split into fields. head # List to scalar. grep { /^\s*Total/ } # Extract total line. `sysutil`; # Get data.