use strict;
use warnings;

my $templateformat = 'w<NM>b<NM>cm<CH>sw<SW>';
my $inputexample   = 'w8b8cm512swno';

my %type_matchers = (
   NM => qr/\d+/,
   CH => qr/\d+/,
   SW => qr/yes|no/,
);

my @field_names;
my @field_types;
while ($templateformat =~ /([^<]+)<([^>]+)>/g) {
   push(@field_names, $1);
   push(@field_types, $2);
}

# my $re = '^';
# $re .= "\Q$field_names[$_]\E((?:(?!\Q$field_names[$_+1]\E).)*)"
#    for 0..$#field_names-1;
# $re .= "\Q$field_names[-1]\E(.*)\\z";
# $re = qr/$re/s;

my $re = '^';
$re .= "\Q$field_names[$_]\E($type_matchers{$field_types[$_]})"
   for 0..$#field_names;
$re = qr/$re/s;

my @field_values = $inputexample =~ $re
  or die("Input \"$inputexample\" doesn't match the format defined by 
+template \"$templateformat\"\n");

local $, = "\t";
local $\ = "\n";
print(@field_names);
print(@field_values);

[download]

outputs 

w       b       cm      sw
8       8       512     no

[download]

Updated: Replaced the commented paragraph with the one that follows due to a better understanding of the question. Both give the same answer.

In reply to Re: text extraction question by ikegami
in thread text extraction question by echoangel911

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