Need to get number of charictors to the first blank (white space) space

[Gallagher, Tim \(NE\)]

Lets say that I have a variable;

 

My $test = "asdfjaslfkjasdf lksaflksajfalksjf fsalkjsaflkjsafd fajd
alsjfk";

 

I want a way to count the number of characters to the first space.  Is
there an easy function to do this???

 

 

Thanks

 

Tim