# data expected to be a number
my ($iCount) = ($dataFromTheWeb =~ /^(\d+)$/);

# data expected to be a user name
my ($sUser) = ($dataFromTheWeb =~ /^(\w+)$/);

# data expected to be a server path (POSIX syntax)
my ($sPath) = ($dataFromTheWeb =~ /^([\w\/]+)$/);

# and so on...