Given Perl's $_ = "123 foo"; s/^(\d+)\s+//; $pid = $1; print "$_\n$pid\n"; all I can come up with is line = "123 foo" pid = nil line.sub!(/^(\d+)\s+/) {pid = $1; ''} puts line, pid Is there a better way perhaps? -- Jos Backus _/ _/_/_/ Sunnyvale, CA _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ jos at catnook.com _/_/ _/_/_/ require 'std/disclaimer'