Since I wasn't 100% sure of what you were asking for, I give you two! two solutions in one! 

#!/usr/bin/perl -w 
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
my $line="this---is---Sparta!";

#
# Case 1 a line with *fields* seperated by dashes
my @f=split('---',$line);  #split the line along the dashes

print Dumper(\@f);

# Case 2   Records seperated by three dashes
my $oldIFS=$/; #save the old IFS

$/ = undef;    # make it undefined
$line=<DATA>;  # slurp in file
$/=$oldIFS;    # restore IFS

@f = split('---',$line); # split on dashes
$_ =~ s/^\n// foreach @f; # remove leading EOL
chomp (@f); # remove traiing EOL

print Dumper(\@f);


exit(0);   # we're done, going home
__END__
line1
---
line2
---
line3

[download]
when run gives you: 
$VAR1 = [
          'this',
          'is',
          'Sparta!'
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          'line1',
          'line2',
          'line3'
        ];

[download]

Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg

In reply to Re: split at '- - -' by blue_cowdawg
in thread split at '- - -' by Saved

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