use Data::Dumper; @opts = ( "SS 21M- PL 2#3 PV 51.3 CL #110 +0 RL 126' SA 106 DS 93", "SS 21 + PL 2.3 PVa51.3 CT^ 110 +0 RL126, SA 106 DS 93", "SS 21F PL2#3# PV 51.3 CL #110 +0 RL 126' SA 106 DS 93", "SS 21#+ PL2.3# PV 51.3 CL 110 -13 RL 126' SA 106 DS 93", "SS 32 - PL2.3# PV 51.3 CL #110 +0 RL 126' SA 106 DS 93" ); my ($ss, $mstate, $mvote); my %patterns = ( qr/SS\s+(\d+)([MF# ])([\+\- ])/ => sub { $ss = $1; $mstate = $2; $mvote = $3; }, # qr/PL\s+([=#]?)(\d+)([=#]?)(\d+)/ # qr/PL\s+(\d+)([\.\#])(\d+)([\.\#])/ qr/PL\s*(\d+)([\#\.])(\d+)([\#\.]?)/ => sub { $sp = $1; $spl = $2; $spl = "" if ($spl ne "#"); $lp = $3; $lpl = $4; $lpl = "" if ($lpl ne "#"); }, qr/PV\s*([a-z]?\d+)(\.)(\d+)/ => sub { $vsp = $1; $vlp = $3 }, qr/RL\s+(\d+)([,'"]?)/ => sub { $rl = $1; $rlflg = $2; }, qr/SA\s+(\d+)/ => sub { $csa = $1 }, qr/DS\s+(\d+)/ => sub { $cds = $1 }, qr/CT\s+([#^]?)\s*(\d+)\s+(\S+)\s+(\S+)/, => sub { }, qr/CL\s+([#^]?)(\d+)\s+(\S+)/, => sub { }, ); sub MAGIC { my $line = $_[0]; $_ = {}; $line =~ s/^\s*//; printf("Input: >%s<\n", $line); LOOP: while (length($line)) { for my $k (keys %patterns) { if ($line =~ s/^$k(?:\s+|\z)//) { $patterns{$k}->(); next LOOP; } } warn "got stuck on: $line\n"; $_->{leftover} = $line; last; } printf(" \$ss = $ss\n"); printf("\$mstate = >$mstate<\n"); printf(" \$mvote = >$mvote<\n"); printf(" \$sp = $sp\n"); printf(" \$spl = $spl\n"); printf(" \$lp = $lp\n"); printf(" \$lpl = $lpl\n"); printf(" \$ctl = ...\n"); printf(" \$ct = ...\n"); printf(" \$ctr = ...\n"); printf(" \$vsp = $vsp\n"); printf(" \$vlp = $vlp\n"); printf(" \$rl = $rl\n"); printf(" \$rlflg = $rlflg\n"); printf(" \$csa = $csa\n"); printf(" \$cds = $cds\n"); $_; } foreach $buf (@opts) { printf("START -----\n"); MAGIC($buf); # print Dumper( MAGIC($buf)); printf(" \n"); }