foreach my $email (@split_msg) { my ($title, $tags, $msg); $email =~ m/\[title\](.+)\[title\]/i; $title = $1; # match in single line mode $email =~ m/\[message\](.*)\[message\]/is; $msg = $1; # match is again in $1 print "TITLE:$title\nMESSAGE:$msg\n"; }