sub prematch {
	return unpack "a$-[0]", $_[0];
}

sub postmatch {
	return unpack "x$+[0] a*", $_[0];
}

sub match {
	my $len = $+[0] - $-[0];
	unpack "x$-[0] a$len", $_[0];
}

##</code><code>##

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = "This is some pretty darn boring text";


if ( $string =~ /darn/ ) {
	print prematch($string), "\n";
	print postmatch($string), "\n";
	print match($string), "\n";
}

##</code><code>##

my ($pre, $match, $post) = split /\b(word)\b/, $string, 2;