my @i ; # usern pid ? ? startt ? ? command $i[0] = "wwwrun 17275 10449 0 2006 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sb..."; $i[1] = "root 3826 1 0 Jan08 ? 00:00:00 su -" ; $i[2] = "root 3826 1 0 Jan 08 ? 00:00:00 su -" ; $i[3] = "root 3547 1 2 06:49 ? 00:11:56 zmd /us..."; $i[4] = "root 3547 1 2 06:49:12 pts/1 00:11:56 zmd /us..."; foreach ( @i ) { my @proc = /^ (\w+) # capture username \s+ (\d+) # capture PID \s+\d+\s+\d+\s+ (?: # cluster (not capturing) (\d{4}) # capture %Y | # or (\d{2}:\d{2}) # capture %H:%M | # or (\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}) # capture %H:%M:%S | # or (\w{3}\d{2}) # capture %b%d | # or (\w{3}\s+\d{2}) # capture %b %d ) \s+\S+\s+\S+\s+ # skip 2 columns after the 5th column (.*) # capture the command $/gx; print join ' | ', map { defined() ? $_ : 'undef' } @proc; print "\n"; }