#! /usr/bin/perl use strict ; use warnings ; my @str = ( 'fdjsflsdfjk foo=123 sdjflsdfjklsfj ', 'sdfhsdfsd bar=42 fkjfjklsfjs', 'zoot=23 ff ', ' nooka=9 ' ) ; foreach (@str) { /([[:alnum:]]+)=([[:digit:]]{1,3})(.*)$/ ; printf "[%s] [%s] [%s]\n", $1, $2, $3 ; } #### [foo] [123] [ sdjflsdfjklsfj ] [bar] [42] [ fkjfjklsfjs] [zoot] [23] [ ff ] [nooka] [9] [ ] #### #! /usr/bin/perl use strict ; use warnings ; my @str = ( 'fdjsflsdfjk foo=123 sdjflsdfjklsfj ', 'sdfhsdfsd bar=42 fkjfjklsfjs', 'zoot=23 ff ', ' nooka=9 ' ) ; foreach (@str) { /^([^=]+)=([[:digit:]]{1,3})(.*)$/ ; printf "[%s] [%s] [%s]\n", $1, $2, $3 ; } #### [fdjsflsdfjk foo] [123] [ sdjflsdfjklsfj ] [sdfhsdfsd bar] [42] [ fkjfjklsfjs] [zoot] [23] [ ff ] [ nooka] [9] [ ]