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 } } }