I often use Text::ParseWords for this problem. It has the advantage of being a core module. 
use strict;
use warnings;
use feature "say";

use Text::ParseWords;

my $args = '23 45.67 "John Marcus" Surname';

my @parsed = parse_line('\s+', 0, $args);

say for @parsed;

[download]
Output: 
23
45.67
John Marcus
Surname

[download]

In reply to Re: Parsing a line of text items by philipbailey
in thread Parsing a line of text items by mikkoi

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