$ perl -le' my @a = qw( SystemMaj MemoryCrit ServerOkay MemoryOkay ); foreach my $v (@a) { my @x = split /(Crit|Maj|Okay)/, $v; print "1: $x[0] 2: $x[1]"; } ' 1: System 2: Maj 1: Memory 2: Crit 1: Server 2: Okay 1: Memory 2: Okay