« Based upon the OP's regex, it appears that the pattern's stable--with one space after the semi-colon »

Oh indeed, my "warning" was meant more like a general tip, I didn't just mean this particular example. Just meant to say that it's a difference in how split vs if(m//) with some rather "strict" regexp typically result in a different level of defensiveness of the code. Again, I mean just typically. I mean hey, "just use split" would've been first answer, too. But you wrote that already, so I had to come up with something nitpicking. ;)

« However, we can ask split to 'test' the format of the input »

Umm... ok, you wrote 'test' in quotes, so alright... ;)

Sure, you can combine the split and trim operation, but still, this split would happily work on any input you throw at it (including undef, with a warning, though). It won't tell you (by not even matching) that your input looks a bit strange there.

Now, again, I am not so much talking about the OP's concrete problem, but was trying to educate a bit on what method to use when, since his usage of \d\d\d\d\d instead of \d{5} suggested that regexen ain't something he works with since years (No offence meant.)

So long,
Flexx