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Asked: 2026-06-18T21:19:39+00:00

I have a question related to using regex to pull out data from a

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I have a question related to using regex to pull out data from a text file. I have a text file in the following format:

REPORTING-OWNER:    

    OWNER DATA: 
        COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:         DOE JOHN
        CENTRAL INDEX KEY:          99999999999

    FILING VALUES:
        FORM TYPE:      4
        SEC ACT:        1934 Act
        SEC FILE NUMBER:    811-00248
        FILM NUMBER:        11530052

    MAIL ADDRESS:   
        STREET 1:       7 ST PAUL STREET
        STREET 2:       STE 1140
        CITY:           BALTIMORE
        STATE:          MD
        ZIP:            21202

ISSUER:     

    COMPANY DATA:   
        COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:         ACME INC
        CENTRAL INDEX KEY:          0000002230
        IRS NUMBER:             134912740
        STATE OF INCORPORATION:         MD
        FISCAL YEAR END:            1231

    BUSINESS ADDRESS:   
        STREET 1:       SEVEN ST PAUL ST STE 1140
        CITY:           BALTIMORE
        STATE:          MD
        ZIP:            21202
        BUSINESS PHONE:     4107525900

    MAIL ADDRESS:   
        STREET 1:       7 ST PAUL STREET SUITE 1140
        CITY:           BALTIMORE
        STATE:          MD
        ZIP:            21202

I want to save the owner’s name (John Doe) and identifier (99999999999) and the company’s name (ACME Inc) and identfier (0000002230) as separate variables. However, as you can see, the variable names (CENTRAL INDEX KEY and COMPANY CONFORMED NAME) are exactly the same for both pieces of information.

I’ve used the following code to extract the owner’s information, but I can’t figure out how to extract the data for the company. (Note: I read the entire text file into $data).

if($data=~m/^\s*CENTRAL\s*INDEX\s*KEY:\s*(\d*)/m){$cik=$1;}
if($data=~m/^\s*COMPANY\s*CONFORMED\s*NAME:\s*(.*$)/m){$name=$1;}

Any idea as to how I can extract the information for both the owner and the company?

Thanks!

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    There is a big difference between doing it quick and dirty with regexes (maintenance nightmare), or doing it right.

    As it happens, the file you gave looks very much like YAML.

    use YAML;
my $data = Load(...);
say $data->{"REPORTING-OWNER"}->{"OWNER DATA"}->{"COMPANY CONFORMED NAME"};
say $data->{"ISSUER"}->{"COMPANY DATA"}->{"COMPANY CONFORMED NAME"};

    Prints:

    DOE JOHN
ACME INC

    Isn’t that cool? All in a few lines of safe and maintainable code ☺

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