With 5.12.2:
$ perl -wE 'my $s = "foo bar"; $s =~ /(bar)/; say ${^PREMATCH}'
foo
$ perl -wE 'my $s = "foo bar"; $s =~ /bar/; say ${^PREMATCH}'
Use of uninitialized value $^PREMATCH in say at -e line 1.
$
Note also the difference in what's going on:
$ perl -Mre=debug -wE 'my $s = "foo bar"; $s =~ /bar/;'
Compiling REx "bar"
Final program:
1: EXACT <bar> (3)
3: END (0)
anchored "bar" at 0 (checking anchored isall) minlen 3
Guessing start of match in sv for REx "bar" against "foo bar"
Found anchored substr "bar" at offset 4...
Starting position does not contradict /^/m...
Guessed: match at offset 4
Freeing REx: "bar"
$ perl -Mre=debug -wE 'my $s = "foo bar"; $s =~ /(bar)/;'
Compiling REx "(bar)"
Final program:
1: OPEN1 (3)
3: EXACT <bar> (5)
5: CLOSE1 (7)
7: END (0)
anchored "bar" at 0 (checking anchored) minlen 3
Guessing start of match in sv for REx "(bar)" against "foo bar"
Found anchored substr "bar" at offset 4...
Starting position does not contradict /^/m...
Guessed: match at offset 4
Matching REx "(bar)" against "bar"
4 <foo > <bar> | 1:OPEN1(3)
4 <foo > <bar> | 3:EXACT <bar>(5)
7 <foo bar> <> | 5:CLOSE1(7)
7 <foo bar> <> | 7:END(0)
Match successful!
Freeing REx: "(bar)"
$