# you have been shown this, but I have added another 2 digits
$variable = "-----;=99;helloworld88";
$variable =~ m/(\d\d)/;
print "$1\n";
# 99 -> *the first 2 digit string* in $variable will now be in $1
# Note match will stop with the first \d\d sequence looking L->R

# we can get all the \d\d sequences with this regex 
# the key is the /g at the end which stands for global
print "got a $1\n" while $variable =~ m/(\d\d)/g;

#Often we might then go on to assign $1 to a variable ie
my $number = $1;

#You can do this in on step with the expression
($number) = $variable =~ m/(\d\d)/;
print "\$number is $number\n";

# you can also capture the values of $1,$2,$3 all at once into a list
$record = "John Smith 919 909 900";
($first,$last,$phone) = $record =~ m/(\w+)\s+(\w+)\s+([\d\s]+)/;
print"$first,$last,$phone\n";

# or an array
@stuff = $record =~ m/(\w+)\s+(\w+)\s+([\d\s]+)/;

# popped this in here for educational purposes
# $" is the output record seperator,default is one space
$" = ' : '; 
print "@stuff";

Hope this helps

tachyon
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