my $variable = qq~ ds[used].type = "GAUGE" ds[used].minimal_heartbeat = 20 ds[used].min = 0.0000000000e+00 ds[used].max = 1.1258999068e+15 ds[used].last_ds = "34080235520.000000" ds[used].value = 3.0672211968e+11 ds[used].unknown_sec = 0 ds[free].type = "GAUGE" ds[free].minimal_heartbeat = 20 ds[free].min = 0.0000000000e+00 ds[free].max = 1.1258999068e+15 ds[free].last_ds = "24130674688.000000" ds[free].value = 2.1717607219e+11 ds[free].unknown_sec = 0~; my @types = $variable =~ /(ds\[[a-z]*\]\.type\s+=\s+[^\n]+)/g; print $_,"\n" for @types