$ perl -e '@a = split /<\/?xyz>/, q(<xyz>a</xyz><xyz>a3</xyz><xyz>a2</xyz><xyz>a1</xyz>); print qq/@a\n/'
 a  a3  a2  a1

##</code><code>##

$ perl -MData::Dumper -e '@a = split /\<\/?xyz\>/, q(<xyz>a</xyz><xyz>a3</xyz><xyz>a2</xyz><xyz>a1</xyz>); print Dumper \@a'
$VAR1 = [
          '',
          'a',
          '',
          'a3',
          '',
          'a2',
          '',
          'a1'
        ];