use strict; use warnings; my $line = 'some text 12121 then some text 4654 here'; my (@value) = $line =~ m|(\d+)|g; my ($value) = $line =~ m|(\d+)|g; $" ="\t"; print "Array: @value\n"; print "Scalar: $value\n"; prints: ------- Array: 12121 4654 Scalar: 12121