(my($key, $operator, $value) = /^\s*?(\S+)\s*?(\=\>?)\s*?(\S+)\s*$/)
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as long as the site names don't have an equals sign in them, i don't see why this wouldn't work:

(my($key, $operator, $value) = /^\s*?([^=]+?)\s*?(\=\>?)\s*?(\S+)\s*$/
+)
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I changed the \s+ to [^=]+?