#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use warnings;
# ^([\d]+(?:\.\d)?) # Match one or more digits
# # followed by an optional period and digit
# \s # followed by a whitespace character
#
# (years|months|days|hours|minutes)
# # followed by a unit-of-time word
my @buf;
while (<DATA>) {
@buf = /^([\d]+(?:\.\d)?)\s(years|months|days|hours|minutes)/;
}
__DATA__
12 days ago
1 minutes ago
5.8 hours ago
3.2 years ago
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