$ perl -MData::Dumper -e'
   $_="   56  1752.eps a b";
   print Dumper split;
'
$VAR1 = '56';
$VAR2 = '1752.eps';
$VAR3 = 'a';
$VAR4 = 'b';

$ perl -MData::Dumper -e'
   $_="   56  1752.eps a b";
   print Dumper split " ";
'
$VAR1 = '56';
$VAR2 = '1752.eps';
$VAR3 = 'a';
$VAR4 = 'b';