Since you want it *fast*, I'd suggest using split: 
$_ = "  one two three    four five six";
@ary = split;
print $ary[3];

[download]

update:
split splits $_ on whitespace by default.

To split $str on whitespace do: 
$str = "  one two three    four five six";
$str =~ s/^\s+//;  # remove leading spaces

@ary = split /\s+/, $str;
print $ary[3];

[download]

[~]

In reply to (ar0n: split methinks) Re: novice by ar0n
in thread novice by mrt

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