#/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $in ='HWI-1KL120:99:C0C9MACXX:6:1101:2105:2123 0 chr5 75483987 0 82M3I16M * 0 0'; my ($fifth, $sixth) = (split(/\s+|:/,$in) )[5,6]; print "$fifth:$sixth\n"; #2105:2123