if ($text =~  /^
                (?:                  # Any amount of:
                  (?:
                    \[              # An open brace
                     [^\]]*         # Any amount of non-brace stuff
                    \]              # A close brace
                  )
                  |                 # Or
                  [^\[]+            # Anything that's not an open brace.
                 )*
                 \]                 # Followed by a close brace
              /xs

##</code><code>##

my $next;
while ( $next = (extract_bracketed($text,'[]','[^\[]*'))[0] )
{
   print "found matching brackets: *$next*\n";
}
print "found bracket error: $@\n" if $@;