++ GrandFather

But if your homework assignment requires classic use of a regex (as nit-pickingly distinguished from use of a 'pattern' in split), you might hand in something like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
# 825797

while ( my $line = <DATA> ) {
    if ($line =~ /([A-Za-z ]+?)ZZZ([-A-Za-z]+)/) {
        my $fname = $1;
        my $lname= $2;
        chomp $lname;
        print "$lname \t $fname\n";
    }
}

__DATA__
MikeZZZJones
JohnZZZDoe
FredZZZDoe
Jean PierreZZZMcCoy
JaneZZZSmith-Barre

[download]

Note, however, that this deals with complexities beyond those in your problem statement (names 4 and 5)... but ignores possibilities such as GrandFather's "Bobbie" -- ie, bad data, from the POV of your spec.

And from these replies, you should be able to complete what appears to be part 2 of the same homework assignment.

Update: Fixed unclosed code tag in para 2 and clarified whose homework.

In reply to Re: Extract firstname and lastname from variable by ww
in thread Extract firstname and lastname from variable by Anonymous Monk

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