use strict;
use warnings;

while (<DATA>) {
    if (/^(\d+\D\d)_(LacZ|pgK|SD|SU)(.*)$/) {
        print "match: $_";
        print '    $1', " is $1\n";
        print '    $2', " is $2\n";
        print '    $3', " is $3\n";        
    }
    else {
        print "no match: $_";
    }
}

__DATA__
12774L1_LacZ.SEE.rc_C06_2008-12-01.ab1
12774L1_pgK.Neo.2fw_D06_2008-12-01.ab1
12774L1_SD_B06_2008-12-01.ab1
12774L1_SU_A06_2008-12-01.ab1
foo.bar
[download]

prints:

match: 12774L1_LacZ.SEE.rc_C06_2008-12-01.ab1
    $1 is 12774L1
    $2 is LacZ
    $3 is .SEE.rc_C06_2008-12-01.ab1
match: 12774L1_pgK.Neo.2fw_D06_2008-12-01.ab1
    $1 is 12774L1
    $2 is pgK
    $3 is .Neo.2fw_D06_2008-12-01.ab1
match: 12774L1_SD_B06_2008-12-01.ab1
    $1 is 12774L1
    $2 is SD
    $3 is _B06_2008-12-01.ab1
match: 12774L1_SU_A06_2008-12-01.ab1
    $1 is 12774L1
    $2 is SU
    $3 is _A06_2008-12-01.ab1
no match: foo.bar
[download]

Update: Furthermore, grep properly filters out the "foo.bar" file I injected:

True

Yes, under "/home/lomspace/testdir1/RESULTS 2008" there is
/home/lomspace/testdir1/RESULTS 2008/DEC 2008/Results 12-01-08C
The subdirs under /RESULTS 2008 all have the month and year.
I want to peek into the dirs that start with /Results /d/d-/d/d-/d/d/D.
If the have files that I want then I will move them, if not next peek into the next dir.

Well do it! You've been shown how to get dirs and file lists and to grep thru them. So apply your regex.

---

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are

in /testdir1/Results_2008:

12774L1_LacZ.SEE.rc_C06_2008-12-01.ab1 12774L1_SD_B06_2008-12-01.ab1 12774L1_pgK.Neo.2fw_D06_2008-12-01.ab1 12774L1_SU_A06_2008-12-01.ab1

in /testdir1/Results_2009: no files

My script:

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

my $topdir = "/home/zentara/testdir1";
my @subdirs = get_sub_dirs($topdir);
my $newdir = "/home/zentara/testdir2";

sub get_sub_dirs {
    my $dir = shift;
    opendir my $dh, $dir or die "Error: $!";
#    print "$dh\n";  #this is your glob
    my @dirs =  readdir $dh;
    @dirs = grep /^Results(.*)$/,@dirs;
    closedir $dh;
    return @dirs;
}

print "subdirs = @subdirs\n";

foreach my $dir(@subdirs){
    opendir my $dh, "$topdir/$dir" or die "Error: $!";
    my @files = readdir $dh;
    print "raw files = @files\n";
   @files = grep /^(\d+\D\d)_(LacZ|pgK|SD|SU)(.*)$/,@files;

    print "$dir -> @files\n";
    foreach my $file(@files){
#     system( "mv $topdir/$dir/$file $newdir/$file");
      
    }
    closedir $dh;
}
[download]

raw files = . .. Results_2009 ->

You must have some overlooked spelling error in your pathnames or something?

Thanks for the help with getting the "glob".
Duh! on my part. Now that I can see the dirs that I want to
search. I need to look into the subdir to see if I want to move it to testdir2.
So the first file in each dir that I want to mv to testdir2 will be similar
to:
12635L1_LacZ.SEE.rc_G03_2008-12-01.ab1
12635L1_pgK.Neo.2fw_H03_2008-12-01.ab1
12635L1_SD_F03_2008-12-01.ab1
12635L1_SU_E03_2008-12-01.ab1 The dir could start with anyone of them based on the regex. This is a unique file naming convention.
Now that I have the $topdir should I do another foreach to read through the dirs?

We showed you enough tricks, so that you should be able to work it out by hacking on your own. Just add alot of print statements to debug what are your dirs, files and pathnames, and you will eventually get it they way you want. Just pay attention to detail.

---

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are

I need to peek into these subdirs to determine is I will mv to testdir2:

Results 12-01-08A  Results 12-05-08C  Results 12-15-08C  Results 12-18
+-08D
Results 12-01-08B  Results 12-08-08A  Results 12-15-08D  Results 12-19
+-08A
Results 12-01-08C  Results 12-08-08B  Results 12-15-08E  Results 12-19
+-08B
Results 12-01-08D  Results 12-08-08C  Results 12-15-08F  Results 12-19
+-08C
Results 12-02-08A  Results 12-09-08A  Results 12-15-08G  Results 12-19
+-08D
Results 12-02-08B  Results 12-09-08B  Results 12-15-08H  Results 12-22
+-08A
Results 12-02-08C  Results 12-10-08A  Results 12-16-08A  Results 12-22
+-08B
Results 12-03-08A  Results 12-10-08B  Results 12-16-08B  Results 12-23
+-08A
Results 12-03-08B  Results 12-10-08C  Results 12-17-08A  Results 12-23
+-08B
Results 12-04-08A  Results 12-11-08A  Results 12-17-08B  Results 12-23
+-08C
Results 12-04-08B  Results 12-11-08B  Results 12-18-08A
Results 12-05-08A  Results 12-15-08A  Results 12-18-08B
Results 12-05-08B  Results 12-15-08B  Results 12-18-08C
[download]