$line = '127.0.0.1 - - [26/Mar/2001:16:01:07 -0500] "GET /stuff/ HTTP/1.0" 200 11874'

##</code><code>##

use strict;
my ($ip,$date,$method,$file,$header,$status,$pid) = $line =~ 
	/^([\d.]+)      # $id     = ip quad
	\s*-\s*-\s*     # skip over these
	\[(.*?)\]\s"    # $date   = everything between the brackets
	(\w+)\s*        # $method = the method, usually GET or POST
	([^\s]+)\s*     # $file   = everything UP TO the next white space
	(.*)"\s*        # $header = everything UP TO the next double quote
	(\d+)\s*        # $status = digits between spaces
	(\d+)\s*$/x;    # $pid    = last set of digits

print "$ip\n$date\n$method\n$file\n$status\n$pid\n";