my $re1 = qr/3_prtnm_/; my $re2 = qr/2_tname_/; # ... while( ) { # ... if( m/$re1/ ) { @tmp = split($re1); #... } elsif( m/$re2/ ) { @tmp = split($re2); #... } } #### my $re = qr/(3_prtnm_|2_prtnm_|2_mrslt_)/; # ... while( my $line = ) { if( m/$re/ ) { my $sep = $1; my @tmp = split( /$sep/, $line ); # ... } }