use strict;
use warnings;
my @staff = `whoare -g somegroup`;
#chomping an array chomps all the elements
chomp @staff;

foreach my $emp (@staff) {
    my @fields = split /\s{2,}/, $emp;
    die "error! number of fields is " . scalar @fields . "! "
      unless ( scalar @fields == 3 );

    #dispense with the opening paren to get the group 
    ( my $def_grp = $fields[1] ) =~ s/\s*\(\s*//;
#etc.
}

##</code><code>##

use strict;
use warnings;

# First things first.  If I can't figure out who you are, you're outta here.
my $editor;
if ( exists( $ENV{REMOTE_USER} ) ) {
    ($editor) = $ENV{REMOTE_USER} =~ m/(some regex)/i;
}
(defined $editor) || die "I can't determine who you are, so you can't access this area.";

#use editor later throughout the program