c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -MData::Dump -le
"$_ = '12.34.56.78';
 ;;
 /(\d{1,3}\.){3}(\d{1,3})/;
 dd [ $1, $2, $3, $4 ];
 ;;
 /(\d{1,3})\.(\d{1,3})\.(\d{1,3})\.(\d{1,3})/;
 dd [ $1, $2, $3, $4 ];
"
["56.", 78, undef, undef]

[12, 34, 56, 78]