#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; # https://perlmonks.org/?node_id=11116857 use warnings; my $text = <<'END'; # this quoting method disables special properties of \ 1,Something\,\\text\\text\0x2B,X,99,\,\\,\\\,foobar END chomp $text; print "input:\n$text\n"; my @fields = split /(?## input: 1,Something\,\\text\\text\0x2B,X,99,\,\\,\\\,foobar output: 1 Something\,\\text\\text\0x2B X 99 \,\\ \\\ foobar