my $str = "123**abc******";

##</code><code>##

my @values = split(/\*\*/,$str);

warn Dumper(\@values);

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = [
          '123',
          'abc'
        ];

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = [
          '123',
          'abc',
          '',
          ''
        ];