@namearr = `ls -l`; foreach $nameline (@namearr) { chomp $nameline; print ("'$nameline'\n"); ($var1, $var2, $var3, $var4, $var5, $var6, $var7, $var8, $name) = (split " ", $nameline); $name =~ s/^(\w{4}).+/$1/; print ("NAME '$name'\n"); }