use strict;
my $str = 'PC=I;RS=128850544;RE=128850566;LEN=6;S1=36;S2=499.417;REP=2;VT=Ins;VD=SMO|CCDS5811.1|r.?|-|-|protein_coding:CDS:intron:insertion:intron_variant|SO:0000010:SO:0000316:SO:0000188:SO:0000667:SO:0001627;VC=intronic;VW=SMO|CCDS5811.1|r.?|-|-|protein_coding:CDS:intron:insertion:intron_variant|SO:0000010:SO:0000316:SO:0000188:SO:0000667:SO:0001627
PC=D;RS=72450731;RE=72450735;LEN=1;S1=72;S2=802.939;REP=3;VT=Del
PC=D;RS=72450731;RE=72450735;LEN=1;S1=72;S2=802.939;REP=3;VT=Del';
my $regex = qr/VD=([^|]+)/p;
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