in reply to need help understanding perl syntax

I'd guess you have to kill that trailing slash on your http_proxy, otherwise (\d+)$ won't work.

hth, p

Update: As an addition to socketdave's solution and because it's fun to pass around people's focus, the slash can of course also just be optional:

m[^(\S+)\:(\d+)/?$]

Ordinary morality is for ordinary people. -- Aleister Crowley