Yup, the quick and dirty way is to use CPAN (see Yes, even you can use CPAN). If you spend a little time once (possibly less time than you've spent trying to solve this one parsing problem) putting together a distribution system for your users, then you can include whatever modules (CPAN and your own) your script requires with no impact on the users install experience. That's a one time cost and a possible many time payback with the additional payback of reduced development time and probably lower maintenance costs.