push @elements, $1 while
  /\G\s*"(.*?)"/gc ||
  /\G\s*'(.*?)'/gc ||
  /\G\s*(\S+)/gc;

##</code><code>##

do_something() or die "Help!"


##</code><code>##

push @elements, $1  while
 (/\G\s*"(.*?)"/gc or
  /\G\s*'(.*?)'/gc or
  /\G\s*(\S+)/gc) or die "Argh";