my $firstrow = "<S>                           <C>              <C>       <C>        <C>       <C> <C>   <C>          <C>       <C>       <C>    <C>";

my @columnpos;

while ($firstrow =~ /(<\w>)/g) {
    push @columnpos, pos($firstrow) - length($1);
}
print "positions: @columnpos\n";
__END__
positions: 0 30 47 57 68 78 82 88 101 111 121 128