This may seem a little funky, and it is somewhat dependant on what you want to allow as machine and user names. But this should give you something to work with. 

my ( $date, $activity, $machine, $company ) = $_ =~
    m/^(.+(?:AM|PM))
       \|\d\|
       (.+)
       \sfor\s
       ([\w\d-]+@[\w\d.-])
       \s.+\bby\s
       ([\w\d])
       [^\w\d]+$
     /x;

[download]

I used the /x modifier to allow whitespace within the RE, so that I could group it in segments that each accomplish a different portion of the match. You probably ought to also have a look at perlre and perlretut, as well as perlfaq6. They will go a long way toward giving you a good comfort level with RE's.


Dave


"If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a plumber." -- Albert Einstein

In reply to Re: Regular Expression help by davido
in thread Regular Expression help by Anonymous Monk

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