c:\@Work\Perl>perl -wMstrict -le
"print qq{perl version $]};
 ;;
 my $match = my ($whole, $first_part) = q(abc de f abcdef) =~ m/
   ( (\w{3}) .* \2 )
   /x
 ;;
 print qq{first part '$first_part'  whole '$whole'} if $match;
"
perl version 5.008009
first part 'abc'  whole 'abc de f abc'