use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = join('x', ('a') x 20);

my (@foo, $foo);

($foo, @foo) = reverse( split('x', $string) );

print "\$foo:$foo\n";
print "\@foo:@foo\n";

##</code><code>##

$foo:a
@foo:a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a