I don't know if you realize it but you are modifying the input string so that 

my $pos = latlong_cleanup($data);
# now $pos eq $data

[download]

You can grab the data you want using a single regex. I don't know what format the data is but I'll assume
23°34'N 12°25'W

use strict;
use warnings;
use YAML;
use utf8; # to cope with the degree symbol in my test data.

my $data = "23°34'N 12°25'W";

print Dump latlong_cleanup($data);

sub latlong_cleanup {
    my $input = shift;
    if ( my ( $degN, $minN, $NS, $degE, $minE, $EW )
        = $input =~ /(\d+)\xB0(\d+)'([NS]) +(\d+)\xB0(\d+)'([EW])/ )
    {
        my $lat = sprintf "%0.2f",
          ( $NS eq 'S' ? -1 : 1 ) * ( $degN + ( $minN / 60 ) );
        my $long = sprintf "%0.2f",
          ( $EW eq 'W' ? -1 : 1 ) * ( $degE + ( $minE / 60 ) );
        return [ $lat, $long ];
    }
    die "Invalid data [$input]";
}
__END__
---
- 23.57
- -12.42

[download]

In reply to Re: Regex strings, deg:mm:ss, and all that by hipowls
in thread Regex strings, deg:mm:ss, and all that by mcoblentz

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