use strict;
my $str = 'GROUP = TEMPORALINFORMATION
OBJECT = PRODUCTIONDATETIME
NUM_VAL = 1
VALUE = "2015-07-19T18:29:43Z"
END_OBJECT = PRODUCTIONDATETIME
OBJECT = START_DATE
NUM_VAL = 1
VALUE = "2015-07-11T20:17:22Z"
END_OBJECT = START_DATE
OBJECT = STOP_DATE
NUM_VAL = 1
VALUE = "2015-07-11T21:03:52Z"
END_OBJECT = STOP_DATE
END_GROUP = TEMPORALINFORMATION';
my $regex = qr/STOP_DATE.+?VALUE\s*=\s*\"(.+?)\"/sp;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/ ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html