if( $text =~ m{ ( #open capturing parenthesis \d+ #numbers before the period \. #literal period \d+ #numbers after period ) #closing capturing parenthesis \s* #optional spaces ° #degree symbol F #literal letter F }xms){ my $temp = $1; # '$1' is what was found in capturing () if($temp > 75){ #code to send message } }else{ #code to deal with not finding temperature data. }