... yet another way 
use strict;

my (@list) = map { /\w+\s+\w+\s+\w+\s+\w+\s+\w+\s+(\w+)\s+.*/} <DATA>;

print "@list";

__DATA__
1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8
james joe jack janet jill joann joeanne bill bob
alice joe jack janet jill alice joeanne bill bob
james joe jack janet jill susan joeanne bill bob
james joe jack janet jill sarah joeanne bill bob
james joe jack janet jill ethel joeanne bill bob

[download]
Only using map... very brief though :)

In reply to Re: What is the fastest way to extract data from a delimited string? by JamesNC
in thread What is the fastest way to extract data from a delimited string? by thezip

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