use strict;
use warnings;
my $ham = "spam\tspam\tspam\t\tyam\tclam";
my @foo;
my @jam = ($ham =~ (m/^[^\t]*\t[^\t]*(?:\t([^\t]*)(?{push @foo, $^N})){3}\t[^\t]*$/));
print join("\n", '**', @jam, '**', '');
print join("\n", '**', @foo, '**', '');