Maybe my perl version is different, but I can never get away with using actual spaces like that on the match side--I'd have to represent them...something like this:

If running strictly on English and there were no possibilities or no issue with encountering numbers like '04' which had to be handled differently, the code could be a mite simpler:

Without the /x modifier, a space should match literally. What's the output of

perl -lwe 'print qq( $]) =~ s/ /v/r'
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(use double quotes instead on MSWin)
map{substr$_->[0],$_->[1]||0,1}[\*||{},3],[[]],[ref qr-1,-,-1],[{}],[sub{}^*ARGV,3]

I get this output from that command (I'm not on Windows):

Bareword found where operator expected at -e line 1, near "s/ /v/r"
Unquoted string "r" may clash with future reserved word at -e line 1.
Can't modify string in substitution (s///) at -e line 1, near "s/ /v/r
"
syntax error at -e line 1, near "s/ /v/r
"
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.
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When I check the version, I get this:

perl -v

This is perl 5, version 12, subversion 4 (v5.12.4) built for darwin-th
+read-multi-2level
(with 2 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)

Copyright 1987-2010, Larry Wall
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Blessings,

~Polyglot~

Thanks to all of you, for your contributions! Since my script will be dealing strictly with English text, I decided to try "$all =~ s/( {2}\d\d) /$1\t\t/g;" first, and it seems to do the trick!
Aloha, and stay safe!