$var = [ split /:/, $_ ];

##</code><code>##

$_     = "Fracassus Cacus Eryx Anteus"; # see Acme::MetaSyntactic
$foo   = split;                         # '4'
$foo   = split /\s+/, $_;               # '4'
($foo)       = split /\s+/, $_;         # ('Fracassus')
($foo, $bar) = split /\s+/, $_;         # ('Fracassus', 'Cacus')
($foo, $bar) = split /\s+/, $_, 2;      # ('Fracassus', 'Cacus Eryx Anteus')
($foo, $bar) = split /\s+/, $_, 1;      # ('Fracassus Cacus Eryx Anteus', '')
($foo)       = split /\s+/, $_, 1;      # ('Fracassus')
($foo)       = (split /\s+/, $_,) [2];  # ('Eryx')

##</code><code>##

$foo = (split /\s+/, $_) [0];