$foo = qq{^snafu^|^foobar^\n};

$foo =~ m/(\W)([^\1]+)\1(\W)/;
$text_qual = $1;
$field_sep = $3;
print "text: $text_qual\n";
print "field: $field_sep\n";
print $2;

print "\n2nd try\n";
$foo2 = qq{^snafu1|^foobar^\n};
$foo2 =~ m/(\W)([^\1]+)\1(\W)/;
$text_qual = $1;
$field_sep = $3;
print "text: $text_qual\n";
print "field: $field_sep\n";
print $2;