http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=362079

seaver has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear all,

I basically have to parse a file that looks like this:

BAZ 'N3''  N  0 ? ? ? 1
BAZ 'N4''  N  0 ? ? ? 1
BAZ 'C8''  C  0 ? ? ? 1
BAZ C9     C  0 ? ? ? 1
BAZ ZN     ZN 0 ? ? ? 0
BAZ HN1    H  0 ? ? ? 1
BAZ 1HN2   H  0 ? ? ? 0
BAZ 2HN2   H  0 ? ? ? 0
001 F11  F 0 ? ? ? 1
001 C11  C 0 ? ? ? 1
001 O11  O 0 ? ? ? 1
001 N12  N 0 ? ? ? 1
001 C12  C 0 ? ? ? 1
001 C13  C 0 ? ? ? 1
001 C14  C 0 ? ? ? 1
001 C15  C 0 ? ? ? 1
001 C16  C 0 ? ? ? 1
BCB CBA   C  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB CGA   C  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB O1A   O  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB O2A   O  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB 'N B' N  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB C1B   C  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB C2B   C  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB C3B   C  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB C4B   C  0 ? ? ? 1
BCB CMB   C  0 ? ? ? 1
irregular columns means I cant use unpack, BUT, the space in the second column where it says 'N B' HAS to be ignored when splitting!!

I'm hoping there's a third way to do this?

Cheers
Sam