#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $line ='last -- From --00--SPLIT ?--11452'; my ($last) = (split(/--/, $line))[-1]; print "using split: $last\n"; ($last) = $line =~ /(\d+)\s*$/; print "using regex: $last\n"; __END__ Prints: using split: 11452 using regex: 11452