use English qw( -no_match_vars ); ... my $bates_number_pattern = qr{ ... }x; ... sub parse_bates_number { my $bates_number = shift; $bates_number =~ $bates_number_pattern or die "Invalid Bates number: $bates_number\n"; return map { substr $bates_number, $LAST_MATCH_START[$_], $LAST_MATCH_END[$_] - $LAST_MATCH_START[$_] } grep { defined $LAST_MATCH_START[$_] } ( 1 .. $#LAST_MATCH_START ); } ... my ($prefix, $number) = parse_bates_number($bates_number); #### no strict 'refs'; return map { $$_ } grep { defined $LAST_MATCH_START[$_] } ( 1 .. $#LAST_MATCH_START ); #### #!/usr/bin/perl # # parse_bates_numbers_v2.pl use strict; use warnings; use English qw( -no_match_vars ); BEGIN { my $bates_number_pattern = qr{ ^ # ( Prefix ) ( Number ) (?: ( XYZ\s\d{2,3}(?:\sST)? ) \s ( \d{8} ) | ( XYZ\s[UV]\s\d{1,3} ) \s ( \d{8} ) | ( XYZ\s\d{3} ) ( \d{8} ) | ( XYZ ) \s ( \d{7,8} ) | ( ABC-M- ) ( \d{7} ) | ( ABCD- ) ( \d{8} ) | ( ) ( \d{11} ) ) $ }x; '12345678901' =~ $bates_number_pattern or die "Invalid Bates number pattern:\n$bates_number_pattern\n"; $#LAST_MATCH_END % 2 == 0 or die "Invalid number of parentheses in pattern: $#LAST_MATCH_END\n"; sub parse_bates_number { my $bates_number = shift; $bates_number =~ $bates_number_pattern or die "Invalid Bates number: $bates_number\n"; no strict 'refs'; return map { $$_ } grep { defined $LAST_MATCH_START[$_] } ( 1 .. $#LAST_MATCH_START ); } } while (my $bates_number = ) { chomp $bates_number; my ($prefix, $number) = parse_bates_number($bates_number); printf "%-20s %-10s %12.0f\n", $bates_number, $prefix, $number; } exit 0; __END__ XYZ 123 00000123 XYZ 123 00000456 XYZ 123 00654321 XYZ 12 ST 00123456 XYZ 123 ST 00654321 XYZ U 123 00123456 XYZ U 12 00654321 XYZ V 1 00123456 XYZ 12300654321 XYZ 00123456 XYZ 0654321 ABC-M-0123456 ABCD-00654321 00000123456 99999999999 BOGUS99 #### XYZ 123 00000123 XYZ 123 123 XYZ 123 00000456 XYZ 123 456 XYZ 123 00654321 XYZ 123 654321 XYZ 12 ST 00123456 XYZ 12 ST 123456 XYZ 123 ST 00654321 XYZ 123 ST 654321 XYZ U 123 00123456 XYZ U 123 123456 XYZ U 12 00654321 XYZ U 12 654321 XYZ V 1 00123456 XYZ V 1 123456 XYZ 12300654321 XYZ 123 654321 XYZ 00123456 XYZ 123456 XYZ 0654321 XYZ 654321 ABC-M-0123456 ABC-M- 123456 ABCD-00654321 ABCD- 654321 00000123456 123456 99999999999 99999999999 Invalid Bates number: BOGUS99