I have put together some code to parse a colon delimited data file. The regular expression I have built traps some of the colon delimited values. In any case, I would like some pointers with the regexp pattern. An all purpose matching of anything in-between the colon delimited string would be ideal in addition to matching strings that contain fewer data values as can be seen below: 
foreach (<DATA>) {
    

if($_ =~ m/(\d{1,2})?\:?(\w\d)?\:?(\b\w..*\b)?\:?(.*|N\/A)?\:?(\d{1,2}
+.+)?\:?(\d{2}\s?GREEN|RED|XX)?\:?(.*)?\:?(.*)?\:?(\bsquare\b)?/) {


#if($_ =~ $_ =~ m/(\d{1,2})\:?(\w\d)?\:?(\b\w..*\b)?\:?(.*|N\/A)?\|\|?
+(\d{1,2}.+)?\:?(\d{2}\s?GREEN|RED|XX)?\:?(.*)?\:?(.*)?\:?(\bYELLOW\b)
+?/) {


if (defined $1) {
    
    $count=$1;
    
}

else {
    
    $count="nothing";
}

if (defined $2) {
    #code
    $grade=$2;
}

else {
    
    $grade="nothing";
}


if (defined $3) {
    #code
    $pos=$3;
}

else {
    
    $pos="nothing";
}




if (defined $4) {
    #code
    $name=$4;
}

else {
    
    $name="nothing";
}


if (defined $5) {
    #code
    $country=$5;
}

else {
    
    $country="nothing";
}


if (defined $6) {
    #code
    $date=$6;
}

else {
    
    $date="nothing";
}


if (defined $7) {
    #code
    $age=$7;
}

else {
    
    $age="nothing";
}


if (defined $8) {
    #code
    $vacant=$8;
}

else {
    
    $vacant="nothing";
}

if (defined $9) {
    #code
    $square=$9;
}

else {
    
    $count="nothing";
}








#print "We have a match!\n";
print join " ",$count,$grade,$pos,$name,$date,$country,$age,$vacant,"\
+n";

}

}

__DATA__
1:D2:DIRECTOR:D. Green:4/15/1953:61 XX:UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN
+ AND NORTHERN IRELAND::::
1:D1:DEPUTY DIRECTOR:D. Green::6/20/1964:50:TUNISIA REPUBLIC OF::::
1:P5:SENIOR POLICY OFFICER:D. Green::7/7/1954:60 GREEN:UNITED KINGDOM 
+OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND::::
9:P5:SENIOR ECONOMIST:D. Green::7/23/1958:56:UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT B
+RITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND::::
D. Green::10/29/1953:60 GREEN:PERU REPUBLIC OF:*:::
D. Green::10/26/1955:58:SPAIN KINGDOM OF:*:::
D. Green::5/15/1967:47:FRENCH REPUBLIC::::
D. Green:g:12/6/1954:59:FIJI REPUBLIC OF::::
D. Green::6/8/1967:47:UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRE
+LAND::::
D. Green::9/16/1960:54:UNITED STATES OF AMERICA::::
N/A::Vacant:UNASSIGNED::YELLOW::

[download]
Output from above: 
nothing D2 DIRECTOR:D. Green:4/15/1953:61 XX:UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT B
+RITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND ::: nothing nothing   
nothing D1 DEPUTY DIRECTOR:D. Green::6/20/1964:50:TUNISIA REPUBLIC OF 
+::: nothing nothing   
nothing P5 SENIOR POLICY OFFICER:D. Green::7/7/1954:60 GREEN:UNITED KI
+NGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND ::: nothing nothing   
nothing P5 SENIOR ECONOMIST:D. Green::7/23/1958:56:UNITED KINGDOM OF G
+REAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND ::: nothing nothing   
nothing nothing D. Green::10/29/1953:60 GREEN:PERU REPUBLIC OF *::: no
+thing nothing   
nothing nothing D. Green::10/26/1955:58:SPAIN KINGDOM OF *::: nothing 
+nothing   
nothing nothing D. Green::5/15/1967:47:FRENCH REPUBLIC ::: nothing not
+hing   
nothing nothing D. Green:g:12/6/1954:59:FIJI REPUBLIC OF ::: nothing n
+othing   
nothing nothing D. Green::6/8/1967:47:UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN 
+AND NORTHERN IRELAND ::: nothing nothing   
nothing nothing D. Green::9/16/1960:54:UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ::: no
+thing nothing   
nothing nothing N/A::Vacant:UNASSIGNED::YELLOW : nothing nothing   
nothing nothing nothing  nothing nothing

[download]
Many thanks

In reply to Regular Expression to Extract Anything from Colon Delimited String by GuiPerl

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