Good answer, one error though, m// is not an empty pattern, it is the last pattern to successfully match, split gets special dispensation so that split m//, $stuff does split on an empty pattern.

From the split reference:

As a special case for split, using the empty pattern // specifically matches only the null string, and is not be confused with the regular use of // to mean "the last successful pattern match". So, for split, the following:

    print join(':', split(//, 'hi there'));
[download]

produces the output 'h:i: :t:h:e:r:e'.

Cripes, I'd never realised that, thanks for pointing it out. I had to write a little piece of code to prove it to myself.

$ perl -le '
> $s1 = q{catDOGfish};
> $s2 = q{xxYYYzz};
> print $1 if $s1 =~ m{([A-Z]+)};
> print $1 if $s1 =~ m{([0-9]+)};
> print $1 if $s2 =~ m{};'
DOG
YYY
$
[download]

Fancy not knowing that after all this time!

Thanks again,

JohnGG