Actually, $1 = type if the type is $, @, %, or *; however, in the <name> case, the only way to check its type is by nested conditionals outside the regex; something like:

if ($2) {
    if ($1 eq '$') {
        ... 
    }
    elsif ($1 eq '@') {
        ... 
    }
    ... 
}
else {
    ... 
}
[download]

Which, IMHO, is a huge pain in the behind compared to a single if-elsif chain. Why do more work than you have to?

The problem seems to be stated: either $val or <val>:

$ perl -le'$_=pop;/([\$@*%]|(<))(.*)(?(2)>)/;print"($1)($3)"' '$xyz'
($)(xyz)
$ perl -le'$_=pop;/([\$@*%]|(<))(.*)(?(2)>)/;print"($1)($3)"' '$xyz>'
($)(xyz>)
$ perl -le'$_=pop;/([\$@*%]|(<))(.*)(?(2)>)/;print"($1)($3)"' '<xyz>'
(<)(xyz)
[download]



  p

'$xyz>' is definately NOT a valid symbol table entry.