my $line="371540|4/07/2011|08:03|11:03|2|Company Name (MAIN SITE)|DB PURGE|" if ($line =~ /(\d+)\|([0-9]{1,2}\/[0-9]{1,2}\/[0-9]{4})\|([0-9]{1,2}\:[0-9]{2})\|([0-9]{1,2}\:[0-9]{2})\|(\d+)\|((?:\w+)\s\w+\s(?:\()?\w+\s\w+\))\|(\w+(?:\s)?\w+)/ ) { $item1=$1; $item2=$2; ... $item7=$7 }