$s = 'somename 1000 0.24 280 2 2576.9 2731.9 12.0 4195.3';; $s =~ m[\w+(?:\s+(?:\d+\.)?\d+){8}] and @a = split ' ', $s and shift @a and print "@a";; 1000 0.24 280 2 2576.9 2731.9 12.0 4195.3