When I am splitting the key to lat long, it gets split with the number, not the decimal part.

I'm not the best one to help with XML stuff, but I can perhaps offer help on this. I think the best approach is not to split away what you do not want, but to extract what you do want, real numbers in this case. The Regexp::Common module is useful in this, for it defines a real-number pattern.

Win8 Strawberry 5.30.3.1 (64)  Tue 01/12/2021 14:15:24
C:\@Work\Perl\monks
>perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings
# pm#11126809

use Regexp::Common qw(number);

my $rx_lat_lon = qr{ (?<! \d) $RE{num}{real} (?! \d) }xms;

for my $lat_lon (
    '123,456',  '12.345, -0',  '  -2. , 0.987',  '  -.0 ,0.987  ',
    '0, -0',  '.0 ,-.0',  '0. , -0.',  ' 0.0 ,  -0.0 ',
    '1, -1',  '.1 ,-.1',  '1. , -1.',  ' 1.2 ,  -1.2 ',
    '123 456',  '123',  'foo',  '123,foo',  'foo,123',  '1.234.5',
    ) {

    my $got_lat_lon =
    my ($lat, $lon) =
    $lat_lon =~ m{ \A \s* ($rx_lat_lon) \s* , \s* ($rx_lat_lon) \s* \z
+ }xms;
  # $lat_lon =~ m{ $rx_lat_lon }xmsg;  # no data validation

    if ($got_lat_lon) {
        printf "%18s -> lat %-10s  lon %-10s \n",
               "'$lat_lon'", n_or_undef($lat), n_or_undef($lon);
        }
    else {
        print "'$lat_lon' FAILED to extract lat/lon \n";
        }

    }

sub n_or_undef { return defined $_[0] ? "'$_[0]'" : 'undef'; }

^Z
         '123,456' -> lat '123'       lon '456'
      '12.345, -0' -> lat '12.345'    lon '-0'
   '  -2. , 0.987' -> lat '-2.'       lon '0.987'
  '  -.0 ,0.987  ' -> lat '-.0'       lon '0.987'
           '0, -0' -> lat '0'         lon '-0'
         '.0 ,-.0' -> lat '.0'        lon '-.0'
        '0. , -0.' -> lat '0.'        lon '-0.'
   ' 0.0 ,  -0.0 ' -> lat '0.0'       lon '-0.0'
           '1, -1' -> lat '1'         lon '-1'
         '.1 ,-.1' -> lat '.1'        lon '-.1'
        '1. , -1.' -> lat '1.'        lon '-1.'
   ' 1.2 ,  -1.2 ' -> lat '1.2'       lon '-1.2'
'123 456' FAILED to extract lat/lon
'123' FAILED to extract lat/lon
'foo' FAILED to extract lat/lon
'123,foo' FAILED to extract lat/lon
'foo,123' FAILED to extract lat/lon
'1.234.5' FAILED to extract lat/lon
[download]

(I haven't tested it, but I think this code will work under virtually any Perl version. (Update: Counter-examples are welcome!))

Some comments:

• The $RE{num}{real} pattern is not bounded (by design!), so defining an explicit $rx_lat_lon bounded pattern with
      my $rx_lat_lon = qr{ (?<! \d) $RE{num}{real} (?! \d) }xms;
  is IMHO good practice and gives you a single point at which to change the definition of a lat/lon value should this become necessary.
• Defining an explicit pattern for matching a lat/lon field with
      m{ \A \s* ($rx_lat_lon) \s* , \s* ($rx_lat_lon) \s* \z }xms
  is again good practice IMHO because it can provide for a high degree of data validation. The $got_lat_lon flag is true if valid data is extracted.
• If you are certain there will always be exactly two lat/lon sub-fields present and you don't care what else is there, you can use the simpler
      m{ $rx_lat_lon }xmsg
  matching expression (note the /g modifier). The $got_lat_lon flag becomes almost meaningless in this case.

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