use feature ":5.10"; use strict; use warnings; my $line = "05/04/2010 13:09:45 - A - somebody - ( ( my.my id >= 1 ) ) and ( ( is-relative.to code = 'sister' ) or ( is-relative.to code = 'brother' ) or ( is-mother.to code = 'dog' ) )"; my $open = 0; my @result = (''); for my $char (split ('',$line)) { given ($char) { when ('(') { $open++ } when (')') { $open--; push @result,'' } default { $result[-1] .= $char if $open } } } #### my.my id >= 1 is-relative.to code = 'sister' or is-relative.to code = 'brother' or is-mother.to code = 'dog' #### for my $line (@result) { $line =~ s/^\s+(?:or\s+)?(.*)[ >## my.my id is-relative.to code is-relative.to code is-mother.to code