Err... I don't know what to suggest, because as far as I can make out it does work: 
$window_start = 5;
$window_size = 5;
$text_body = "Please ignore all this text, this is the text wanted, pl
+ease none of this text";

if ($window_start > 0) {
        $text_body =~ /\S+/g foreach 1..$window_start;
        $start_index = pos($text_body); 
}  else {
        $start_index = 0;
}

$text_body =~ /\S+/g foreach 1..$window_size; 

$end_index = pos($text_body); 

$windowed_text = substr($text_body, $start_index, ($end_index - $start
+_index));

print $windowed_text;

#prints " this is the text wanted,"

[download]
You just gotta believe! If faith is not enough, then may I suggest you post the contents of your $vars?

By the way, you could alter your last line slightly to$windowed_text = substr($text_body, $start_index + 1, ($end_index - $start_index))- then you lose the leading space.

§ George Sherston

In reply to Re: Slicing a string on words by George_Sherston
in thread Slicing a string on words by dstar

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.