Similar to the previous reply (but slightly different): 
# assume that input from readline is stored in $_

my ( $command, @topic ) = split;
my $filename = pop @topic;
my $topic = join ' ', @topic;

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This (like the earlier reply) takes it for granted that your complex command strings are limited to a single "command_word" followed by one "multiword_arg" followed by one "filename". At the very least, you are limited to not more than one multiword_arg per input line, with no variability (no optionality) in the presence of single-word args before and/or after the one multiword_arg.

If you think you need to support command lines that won't conform to those restrictions, there are probably a few tricks for defining a suitable command line syntax that will allow the flexibility you need (e.g. using special characters or "option flags" to delimit multiword_args). Or you might consider using and handling quotes around the multiword_args (as any standard unix shell would do).

In reply to Re: readline and multi-word commands by graff
in thread readline and multi-word commands by nick

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