split is all you need.

my $str = "SNMPv2-MIB::sysUpTime.0 = Timeticks: (2137215391) 247 days,
+ 8:42:33.91\n";

my @bits = split ' ', $str;

print "\$bits[$_] = '$bits[$_]'\n" for 0..$#bits;

print join ' ', 'Split:', @bits[4..6], "\n";

# alternatively fixing the RE ....
print "RE: $1 | $2\n" if $str =~ m|\)\s+(\d[\w ]+),\s+([0-9:\.]+)$|;


__DATA__
$bits[0] = 'SNMPv2-MIB::sysUpTime.0'
$bits[1] = '='
$bits[2] = 'Timeticks:'
$bits[3] = '(2137215391)'
$bits[4] = '247'
$bits[5] = 'days,'
$bits[6] = '8:42:33.91'
Split: 247 days, 8:42:33.91
RE: 247 days | 8:42:33.91
[download]

As a side note I don't see how that regex could EVER have worked on any perl ever.

C:\>perl -MYAPE::Regex::Explain -e "print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr
+|^.+')'[\s\t]+(\
w+),[\s\t]+(\w)$|)->explain"
Unmatched ) before HERE mark in regex m/^.+') << HERE '[\s\t]+(\w+),[\
+s\t]+(\w)$
/ at -e line 1.


C:\>perl -MYAPE::Regex::Explain -e "print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr
+|^.+'\)
s\t]+(\w+),[\s\t]+(\w)$|)->explain"
The regular expression:

(?-imsx:^.+'\)'[\s\t]+(\w+),[\s\t]+(\w)$)

matches as follows:

NODE                     EXPLANATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(?-imsx:                 group, but do not capture (case-sensitive)
                         (with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not
                         matching \n) (matching whitespace and #
                         normally):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  ^                        the beginning of the string
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  .+                       any character except \n (1 or more times
                           (matching the most amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  '                        '\''
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  \)                       ')'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  '                        '\''
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  [\s\t]+                  any character of: whitespace (\n, \r, \t,
                           \f, and " "), '\t' (tab) (1 or more times
                           (matching the most amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \1:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    \w+                      word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (1 or
                             more times (matching the most amount
                             possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  ,                        ','
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  [\s\t]+                  any character of: whitespace (\n, \r, \t,
                           \f, and " "), '\t' (tab) (1 or more times
                           (matching the most amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \2:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    \w                       word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  $                        before an optional \n, and the end of the
                           string
----------------------------------------------------------------------
)                        end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------

C:\>perl -v

This is perl, v5.6.1 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread
(with 1 registered patch, see perl -V for more detail)

Copyright 1987-2001, Larry Wall

Binary build 635 provided by ActiveState Corp. http://www.ActiveState.
+com
Built 15:34:21 Feb  4 2003


Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License
+ or the
GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5 source ki
+t.

Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found 
+on
this system using `man perl' or `perldoc perl'.  If you have access to
+ the
Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.com/, the Perl Home Pa
+ge.


C:\>
[download]

Not only does it not compile under 5.6.1 but if you add the required escape on the ) ie \) you can see that it is looking for literally ')' ie single quote RT bracket single quote (does not exist) and at the end of the string it is only matching \w+ which are the chars A-Za-z0-9_ inclusive which will NEVER match 8:42:33.91 due to the fact that there are colons and . chars there too......

Note that \s matches ' ' \t \r \n so \s\t is unnecessary just \s is all that is required.

I swear to you it works on my netbsd box running perl 5.6.0 but your way is better, thanks a lot. and the quick reply too.