#! perl -w $/ = "/n"; $str = "Color=red"; ($k, $v) = ($str =~ m/(/w+)=(/w*)/); $ret = ($str =~ m/(/w+)=(/w*)/); print "Key = $k, Value = $v"; print $ret; # one liner version $ret = (($k, $v) = $str =~ m/(/w+)=(/w*)/ ); print "Key = $k, Value = $v"; print $ret;