my @items = split $delim, $line;
#### vs. (and I know this will make mistakes
    my @items = $line =~ /^?([^$delim]*)(?:${delim}$)?/g;

##</code><code>##

my @columns = ( 20, 10, 25, 5, 2, 2, 20);
my $regex = map { "(.{$_})" } @columns;
$regex = qr/^${regex}$/;

my @items = $line =~ /$regex/;